Scotland's Landscape Monitoring Programme - Landscape Indicator LPP2

Updated: 2026

This indicator monitors the change in public attitudes towards local landscape since 2013.  Landscapes are important to people. These include the local landscapes where we spend most of our time and which surround the places we live. They also contribute to our health and well-being, connection to nature and help shape our sense of place and community. People care about the quality of their local landscapes and the changes that are happening in them.

Evidence on public perceptions of local landscape is valuable. It helps to determine how, or if, opinions are changing; which aspects are changing; and how people perceive and respond to landscape change. There is a complementary indicator on the Public Perception of Scotland’s Landscape (LPP1), available on our Scotland's Landscape Monitoring Programme page.

Evidence

Data on public attitudes toward the landscape and natural heritage were collected online in 2023 by the NatureScot Opinion Survey (NOS). Previously the information was collected face-to-face by the Scotland’s People and Nature Survey (SPANS) in 2013/14 and online by the Scottish Nature Omnibus survey (SNO) in 2019. Due to these differences in the survey methodologies (face-to-face and online), the SPANS survey should not be regarded as being directly comparable with the SNO and NOS survey data.  As the SNO and NOS surveys were both carried out online they are more directly comparable.

Assessment

In 2023, around three-fifths (63%) of people were positive about their local landscape, rating it as either ‘very good’ (25%) or ‘good’ (38%). Just over 1 in 10 of respondents rated their local landscape as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. The chart (see annex for the source table) shows the changes in respondents’ rating of their local landscape across the different survey years.

Fewer respondents (70%) in 2023 felt that their local landscape had either stayed the same or got better than in 2013/14 (75%), and more respondents felt that it had got worse (25% in 2023 compared to 19% in 2013/14). The chart (see annex for the source table) shows respondents’ views, across the different survey years, on whether their local landscape got better, worse or stayed the same over the last three years.  For the first time, in 2023, 8% of respondents mentioned weather-related changes, with trees blown down and flooding as reasons why the local landscape was rated as worse.

In 2023, fewer people felt well-informed about proposals that could change local landscape (33%), and more people did not feel well-informed (62%) compared to 2013/14 (44% and 51% respectively). The chart (see annex for the source table) to the right shows, across all survey years, how well-informed respondents felt about proposals, such as new housing or transport infrastructure, that could change their local landscape.

Trend: Stable overall

Data Confidence: Medium

*Medium confidence in the interpretation of the data given the difference in survey methods between 2013/14 SPANS (carried out face to face) and the 2019 SNO and 2023 NOS (carried out online).

Commentary

In 2023, most people rated their local landscape ‘very good’ or ‘good’, with less than 14% of respondents rating their local landscape ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, which was similar in the 2013/14 survey. Negative perceptions of local landscapes were highest amongst those living in the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland, where in 2023 50% of respondents rated their local landscape as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. This was similar to the 2013/14 survey.

There is little overall change in opinion on whether respondents felt that their local landscape got better, worse or stayed the same over the last three years. When asked why the local landscape had improved over the last three years, the most common reasons given, across all survey years, were:

• more trees, flowers and landscaping (12%);
• the improvements to roads and paths (10%); and
• more local attractions and amenities (5%).

When asked why the local landscape got worse, more respondents in 2023 mentioned new developments (34%) and ‘not cared for’ (28%) compared to 2013/14 (12% for both reasons).

Almost 1 in 10 of respondents, in 2023, mentioned weather related changes, as reasons why their local landscape got worse. This is the first time that this reason has been recorded within the surveys and may be related to a growing awareness of the impacts of climate change.  The Scottish Household Survey in 2022 also found an increase in the proportion of adults viewing climate change as an immediate and urgent problem, up from 68% in 2019 to 74% in 2022.

In 2023, fewer people felt well-informed about proposals and developments that could change their local landscape and more people felt not well-informed compared to 2013/14. This indicates a negative trend overall against this statement.

Source data and updates

Source data from NatureScot Opinion Survey November 2023, the Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019 and Scotland’s People and Nature Survey 2013/14.

The intention is to review the indicator on a five-year cycle.

UK indicators

There is no directly comparable UK indicator.

References

NatureScot Research Report 1357 - NatureScot opinion survey 2023

NatureScot Research Report 1198 - The Scottish Nature Omnibus 2019

NatureScot Commissioned Report 679: SPANS Scotland's People and Nature Survey 2013/14