Housing needs of rural workers The High Weald's cultural landscape depends upon its active management and this requires people to live and work close to the land. However most rural workers don't earn enough to afford to live in the High Weald. This report examines the housing needs of rural workers and the affordability 'gap' facing rural workers.... Read more |
Can we feed ourselves? Providing our own food from the land is a key element of a sustainable lifestyle. This report looks at whether the High Weald landscape can grow enough food to support the population and what we will have to do to secure our future food su... Read more |
Deer parks & formal landscapes While much of the High Weald remains quite an informal landscape, significant areas were formally managed in medieval times as deer parks and later as formal 'designed' estates and gardens. Using detailed map regression, this report helps to fill a gap in our knowledge by uncovering the lost history of these formal elements of the ... Read more |
Wind energy assessment This research was driven by Government targets to have 15% renewables by 2020. This technical report looks at the actual wind speeds available in the High Weald It analyses a range of additional, crucial 'constraints' to wind energy ... Read more |
The dispersed settlement pattern How did the High Weald develop its distinctive and unusual pattern of dispered and scattered farms and hamlets? This report looks at this question at a European level. It compares the High Weald with other countries and summarises how this pattern influences the way we live, and how we can be sustainable in the High Weald ... Read more |
Making of the High Weald The Making of the High Weald is one of several pieces of research that underpin the High Weald AONB Management Plan This report has a long historical view back to the last Ice Age, and seeks to explain the main processes that have created the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural ... Read more |
How can rural settlements be more sustainable? Established national policy tends to state that remote rural settlements are unsustainable - mainly because of the travel and proximity to services argument. This study examines a much wider range of sustainability indicators to show how remote rural settlements can become more sustainable in response to peoples 'strategic disobedience' towards current ... Read more |
Socio-economic characteristics of farms Historic farmsteads form an important part of the distinctive settlement pattern of the High Weald, and so contribute to the character of this protected landscape. Driven by a need to fill a gap in our knowledge, this research set out to examine the present day economic and social role historic farm buildings play in the High Weald ... Read more |
Historic farmstead character Farmsteads are a vital feature of the High Weald landscape. This report details how farmsteads have been mapped and categorised in support of wider guidance on their reuse. Understanding farmsteads so we can manage and adapt these vital buildings to the future challenges facing them is the main driver of this ... Read more |
Carbon account of High Weald woodlands This report quantifies the role that the High Weald's woodlands play in storing carbon, and forms part of an ongoing programme of research. This wider research is designed to further our understanding of how important the High Weald landscape is in securing our social and economic well-being. Report title: Woodlands and Carbon Storage in the High Weald AONB Status and date: Complete, July 2010 Research purpose: The report forms part of a programme of activities to help us understand more about how important our landscape is to our social and economic well being. The work contributes to targets within Objective G3 of the High Weald Management Plan, whilst adding to our knowledge of how woodlands could help mitigate the effects of climate change. Research aim(s): To understand the role of High Weald woodlands in carbon storage. To inform the JAC's approach to support for the woodland industry in its ambition to improve the utilisation of local timber in buildings. Research findings: The research shows that trees growing naturally in High Weald woodlands 'lock up' equivalent to a fifth of the annual carbon emissions of each High Weald resident (in the UK the average carbon emissions per person are 10 tonnes ... Read more |
Views of the High Weald
