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Durham Landscapes

Understanding and conserving the diversity of the County Durham Landscape

  • Character
  • Strategy
  • Guidelines
  • Sheep grazing on heather moorland. © Copyright Andrew Smith. Licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (see Legal Information)
  • Chimney of former Sikeshead Mine. © Copyright Dean Allison. Licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (see Legal Information)
  • Juniper wood with new planting from local seeds. © Copyright David Brown. Licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (see Legal Information)

Moorland Ridges and Summits

Land Management

Natural Features, Watercourses and Wetlands

  • Protect natural rock outcrops, screes, stone bands and shake holes by preventing disturbance, stone removal or tipping. Where necessary fence vulnerable features against livestock.
  • Protect gills and ravines from livestock to encourage regeneration of semi-natural vegetation including open scrub and woodland.
  • Protect moorland flushes and pools – avoid drainage works, supplementary feeding and poaching by stock in their vicinity.
  • Conserve blanket bog – avoid drainage works or physical damage and review burning practices and stocking levels.
  • Restore damaged bogs and flushes by blocking grips and drains.

Moor and Heath

  • Manage heather moorland to sustain and enhance its biodiversity by adopting appropriate stocking densities and burning regimes.
  • Restore heathland where it has been damaged by overgrazing by reducing stocking levels.
  • Manage semi-natural acid and calcareous grasslands to enhance biodiversity by maintaining appropriate stocking levels and controlling the spread of bracken and rush.
  • Manage access by encouraging the use of structured and seasonal paths to decrease pressure on fragile substrates and avoid disturbance to breeding birds.

Trees, Woodlands and Forestry

  • Protect and conserve juniper woods – promote natural regeneration by excluding livestock and controlling rabbits. Plant new stands of juniper grown from local seed.
  • Promote natural regeneration of semi-natural birch, oak-birch and juniper woodlands along gills and ravines, in valley bottoms and the moorland fringe.

Cultural Features

  • Protect archaeological features by avoiding overstocking and supplementary feeding on sensitive sites.
  • Conserve and restore moorland structures like sheepfolds, bields and bothies.
  • Protect and conserve lead mining features – avoid physical damage, removal or infilling, consolidate important structures; sensitively gate open shafts and adits.

Development

Energy, Telecommunications and Infrastructure

  • Avoid the siting of tall structures such as masts, pylons and wind turbines in the Moorland landscape generally – in particular avoid prominent skylines.
  • Locate masts or pylons in the moorland fringe close to existing buildings or forest edges.
  • New buildings should only be developed in exceptional circumstances – they should be sited to minimise visibility, be built of natural materials, and where possible designed to look like traditional moorland features – bields, bothies or sheepfolds.

Minerals and Waste

  • Avoid damage to sensitive natural landforms.
  • Avoid breaching skylines with extraction areas or storage mounds.
  • Restore quarry faces to naturalistic profiles using restoration blasting.
  • Restore quarries to semi-natural heathland, grassland, wetland and bare rock habitats using natural regeneration where possible.

Tourism and Recreation

  • Manage access by encouraging the use of structured and seasonal paths to decrease pressure on fragile substrates and avoid disturbance to breeding birds.
  • Facilities and infrastructure for tourism and recreation – paths, car parks, litter bins, signage and interpretation – should be provided only where absolutely necessary, and should be sensitively designed and low key to avoid exerting an urbanising influence on this wild and natural landscape.

Further Information

  • Moorland Ridges and Summits Character Assessment
  • North Pennines Strategy
  • Broad Landscape Types Guidelines

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  • County Durham Landscape Guidelines
  • Trees
    • Trees and Shrubs Native to County Durham
    • Trees and Shrubs not Native to County Durham
    • Veteran Trees
    • Tree Planting
  • Woodland and Forestry
    • Native Woodland in County Durham
    • Woodland Management
    • Woodland Planting
    • Character Areas Overview
  • Hedgerows
  • Broad Landscape Types Guidelines
    • Moorland Ridges and Summits
    • Moorland Plateau
    • Moorland Fringe
    • Lower Dale
    • Middle Dale
    • Upper Dale
    • Gritstone Upland Fringe
    • Gritstone Vale
    • Coalfield Upland Fringe
    • Coalfield Valley Floodplain
    • Coalfield Valley
    • Lowland Valley Terraces
    • Incised Lowland Valley – Characteristics
    • Limestone Escarpment
    • Clay Plateau
    • Coastal Limestone Plateau
    • Limestone Coast
    • Lowland Vale
    • Lowland Carrs
    • Lowland River Terraces
    • Lowland Plain
  • Grasslands

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