All assessments prepared by Chartered Members of the Landscape Institute
LVIAs, appraisals and townscape assessments by Chartered Landscape Architects working across Kent, from the North Downs and the Weald to the Thames estuary and the coast.
Kent combines two National Landscapes, a long and varied coast, the Metropolitan Green Belt in the west and some of the strongest development pressure in the South East. The North Downs and the High Weald between them cover a large part of the county, and many sites outside them are still within sight of them. We prepare LVIAs, Landscape and Visual Appraisals, Townscape and Visual Impact Assessments and Technical Notes across the county.
| Planning authorities | Kent County Council for minerals and waste; twelve district and borough councils; Medway Council as a unitary authority |
|---|---|
| Local plans | Each district has its own plan, at different stages. Maidstone adopted its Local Plan Review in March 2024; Medway is preparing its Local Plan 2041 |
| Protected landscapes | Kent Downs National Landscape (878 square kilometres, designated 1968); High Weald National Landscape in the south-west, shared with Sussex and Surrey |
| Green Belt | The Metropolitan Green Belt across west Kent, including most of Sevenoaks district and parts of Dartford, Gravesham, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Medway |
| National Character Areas | Greater Thames Estuary (81), North Kent Plain (113), North Downs (119), Wealden Greensand (120), Low Weald (121), High Weald (122), Romney Marshes (123) |
| Other constraints to check early | North Kent estuary bird mitigation; Stodmarsh nutrient neutrality in the Stour catchment; heritage coast around Dover and Folkestone |
The North Downs (NCA 119) run the length of the county as a chalk ridge, with a steep south-facing scarp, dry valleys, chalk grassland and ancient woodland. The scarp is visible across the vales below, and the ridge offers long views north to the Thames and south across the Weald, which is why so many Kent schemes turn on views from the Downs.
South of the chalk, the Wealden Greensand (NCA 120) forms a second, wooded ridge with orchards and parkland, and the Low Weald (NCA 121) is a flatter clay vale of hedged fields, small woods and scattered farmsteads along the Medway. In the south-west, the High Weald (NCA 122) is an intimate landscape of ridges, ghylls, small irregular fields and dense woodland, its pattern little changed since the medieval period.
To the north, the North Kent Plain (NCA 113) and the Greater Thames Estuary (NCA 81) combine fruit-growing farmland, towns and open grazing marsh. The Isle of Thanet, at the eastern end of the North Kent Plain, is an open chalk plateau, and the Romney Marshes (NCA 123) are a flat, open reclaimed landscape where even modest buildings can be seen over long distances.
County-wide evidence comes from the Landscape Assessment of Kent (2004), supplemented by district landscape character assessments and the management plans of the two National Landscapes.
The Kent Downs National Landscape covers 878 square kilometres along the chalk ridge from the Surrey border to the White Cliffs. The High Weald National Landscape extends into Kent in the south-west, around Tunbridge Wells, Cranbrook and Tenterden. The coast between Dover and Folkestone is defined as heritage coast.
Since December 2023, public bodies have been under a statutory duty to “seek to further” the purposes of National Landscapes. In Kent this often applies to sites outside the boundary as well: development on the vale floor or the settlement edge may be seen from the scarp, and its effect on the setting of the National Landscape is part of the assessment.
West Kent lies within the Metropolitan Green Belt. Since the revised NPPF of August 2026, more Green Belt sites can be put forward as grey belt. Whether a site qualifies depends on how strongly it contributes to the Green Belt purposes, which is as much a landscape and visual question as a planning one: how open the site looks, how it relates to the settlement edge, and whether it reads as countryside. Our Green Belt and grey belt appraisals set out that evidence.
Ecological constraints also shape layouts. New homes near the north Kent estuaries contribute to strategic bird disturbance mitigation, and in the Stour catchment around Canterbury and Ashford new development has to show nutrient neutrality for the Stodmarsh protected sites. These can change the developable area, and therefore what the landscape assessment assesses.
See also our projects.
Sources and further reading: Kent Downs National Landscape, High Weald National Landscape, Stodmarsh catchment nutrient mitigation strategy, Natural England National Character Area profiles. Information checked October 2026.