VISUAL AMENITY AND HOUSING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE - SCOTTISH LOCAL-PLANNING AUTHORITY APPROACHES

In recent years, farming has lost some of its former pre-eminence in B ritain's rural economy. At the same time, there have been increasing a nd often conflicting new demands on countryside resources. In such a s ituation, planning has been encouraged to adopt a more flexible approa ch to development. The challenge for planning today is to allow develo pment and yet at the same time protect the visual amenity of the count ryside. A recent study has examined how Scottish planning authorities have responded to this challenge in relation to housing in the country side. The study found that there was some variation in approach to hou sing development in the countryside throughout Scotland. A number of a uthorities, especially those in remote rural areas, were prepared to a dopt a relaxed approach to housing development. Nevertheless many auth orities continue with a strong protectionist stance on the location an d scale of housing in the countryside. Moreover, the emphasis currentl y being placed on attempts to influence the design of housing introduc es a new dimension in local authorities' attempts to safeguard the vis ual amenity of the countryside. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.