SP3

Policy: SP3 - Strategic Policy 3 - To respect the character of our towns and villages

Strategic Policy 3: Proposals for development must ensure that the individual character of our towns and villages is protected or enhanced by:

1. avoiding coalescence and maintaining adequate physical separation between settlements; and
2. having regard in the design of new development to the use of local materials and character.

4.3.4 Most of our built heritage, our countryside, our coastline and our natural environment is of attraction, value and interest. Surveys commissioned by Government on the quality of life and the importance of heritage in the Isle of Man and internationally, have consistently shown that the historic landscape setting of the Isle of Man scores as the single most significant factor for residents and visitors in supporting the concept of a specific and positive Manx identity. This "heritage identity" is a result of the combination of a rich diversity of historic sites and monuments, historic buildings and residential settlements and a specific range of natural history attributes set within a predominantly rural landscape setting which links modern life to a sense of historic legacy and beauty, the retention of which is strongly supported by Government and the resident community.

4.3.5 The landscapes of the Island are very varied, and their nature and variety is the consequence of thousands of years of interaction between the natural and cultural aspects of the Island through human activity within the environment and an innate respect for the natural and historic qualities they represent.

4.3.6 This landscape heritage is more than simply the sum of its parts. The combination of geology, geomorphology, wildlife, archaeology, history, traditional buildings and the natural settings for traditional activities and customs, combine in the rural and built environment to provide an inseparable element of "Manxness". It provides an overarching context which makes the landscapes of the Isle of Man unique and gives them the value which is acknowledged by those who live here and those who visit. The protection and promotion of this element within Manx society is an important element in central Government policy and the Strategic Plan, which both support the view that these valued characteristics of the Isle of Man be acknowledged and protected for the future from inappropriate development.

4.3.7 This protection will apply to areas of heritage value, to sites of heritage value and to general traditional landscape settings within the Island which are deemed to contribute to the sense of the Island's heritage identity. Heritage landscape value will therefore be a consideration in all aspects of planning, with a view to retaining and enhancing this value wherever possible.