4.1  Waverley has a high quality environment which is one of the Borough's greatest assets. The NPPF states that in preparing plans to meet development requirements, the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting and enhancing valued landscapes (paragraph 170), and that plans should distinguish between the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites (paragraph 171).

4.2  Local Plan Part 1 includes an objective to safeguard and enhance the historic heritage and diverse landscapes and townscapes in Waverley, and to ensure that new development takes proper account of the character and distinctiveness of the area in which it is located.

4.3  In the Local Plan of 2002, there are several local landscape designations. The Local Landscape Designation Review (LLDR) was carried out in 2014; it was a high level strategic review of the non-statutory landscape designations within Waverley. It reviewed whether they still serve a purpose against the reasons why they were designated. Due to its high level nature no detailed boundary changes were considered.

4.4  Policy RE3 of Local Plan Part 1 establishes the retention of the majority of these designations, and sets out the strategic approach to their protection, following the recommendations of the LLDR (these are Godalming Hillsides, Farnham/Aldershot Strategic Gap and Areas of Strategic Visual Importance). Therefore, for those designations reviewed by the LLDR, the role of Local Plan Part 2 is only to review the boundaries of local landscape designations. The exception to this is that Local Plan Part 2 contains a policy on the Farnham/Aldershot Strategic Gap as well as reviewing the boundary. For Haslemere Hillsides and Frith Hill Area of Special Environmental Quality (ASEQ) the role of Local Plan Part 2 is to review the policy more comprehensively.