Policy Change and ELC Implementation: Establishment of a Baseline for Understanding the Impact on UK National Policy of the European Landscape Convention

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) now presents an important frame for the approach to achieving desirable landscape change in Europe. A response within national policy is seen as one way to achieve such change. This paper discusses the process of the construction of a baseline survey as the starting point for examining national policy change in relation to the ELC in the UK. It outlines the theoretical approach and methodology, the components of the baseline and provides concluding comment. The baseline was devised as i) an overview of present understandings of 'landscape change' in the UK context; ii) an overview of relevant sectoral policy and tools, iii) a detailed national policy content review and discourse analysis using the principles and Articles of the ELC as monitoring indicators, and iv) a survey summary. Collaborative working, complexity of criteria to judge 'progress', the need for transferability and manageability of information and the development of a monitoring framework with feedback mechanisms emerged as key considerations. This work was seen by UK government as a starting point for the development of a range of policy, attitude and physical indicators of change in relation to ELC implementation in the UK.