This site is well worth signing up to - LCN.

It advertises all upcoming, workshops, conferences etc on the incoming guidelines and information about the European Landscape Convention and the sustainable measures that will be imposed on all of us.

Whilst it contains the usual quango flak, it is well worth being involved as our voices will be added into the process.

To give you a taste of the sort of guidelines coming out, which will be implemented (although in most parts of the UK the guidelines are at draft stage).

Check out the PDF attached - which contains the following as a taster:

Smaller Scale Development Particularly in Rural Areas
Consider whether the effect of new development erodes the existing
rural character;
i Minimise the visual intrusion of residential entrances and approaches avoiding over
engineered solutions favouring designs which follow the site topography;
ii Avoid removal of trees and Cornish hedges, ditches and walls, especially where these
form backdrops, soften roof lines, and produce screening. Replace features which have
to be removed to fit in with the existing landscape pattern;
iii Reflect vernacular and local rural detailing at gates, entrance ways and boundary
treatments, avoiding inappropriate use of ornate metal gates;
iv Retain grass verges and avoid upstanding kerbs and highway bollards, avoiding
the extension of garden features such as close-mown lawns, flowerbeds and
ornamental shrubs beyond garden boundary, as these have the effect of
suburbanisation of rural lanes;
v Site garages and other utility features such as rubbish bins and fuel storage away from
property frontages in screened areas;
vi Locate parking and turning spaces at the sides and rear of buildings, or within courtyards,
reducing their visibility from the highway;
vii Provide new native structure planting of Cornish hedges, copses, shelterbelts, (where
appropriate in the landscape) as an integral part of the development to help integrate
new buildings into the landscape. Carefully consider the use of exotic species, especially
evergreens such as cypresses.