Fareham Borough Landscape Assessment

May 1996

Landscape Character Area 8

Woodcot / Alver Valley

Summary Description

The Alver Valley forms part of the strategic gap separating Fareham and Gosport but it is very different in character and scale from the open farmed landscape to the west. It comprises a mixed pattern of wooded common, small-scale pasture and ribbon development along the corridors of the River Alver and Newgate Lane and is bounded to the east by the urban edge of Gosport and to the north by the outskirts of Fareham.

The essential characteristics of the Alver Valley are: * a mosaic of small and medium scale fields at Woodcot, forming a mixture of small horse-grazed pasture and larger arable fields divided by fences, ditches and gappy hedgerows; * although this area forms the upper part of the Alver Valley it lacks a distinct valley character; * the hedgerow pattern is gradually replaced by scrubby woodland to the south, enclosing Chark Common and the golf course; * the character is influenced by the busy road corridor and the urban characteristics of Peel Common and HMS Daedalus on one side and the urban edge of Bridgemary on the other.

Enhancement Priorities

The priority must be to maintain separation between settlements but also to improve the quality of the landscape through management and new planting.

The priorities for enhancement are: * to maintain the rural character of the area and the separate identity of settlements; * to protect existing features of landscape and ecological value, such as areas of woodland, trees, hedgerows, rough grassland and heath and the small-scale field pattern; * to encourage new planting to reinforce these characteristics and to reduce the impact of the urban fringes of Gosport and of the roads and ribbon development.