Guideline 2: Keep the landscapes open and maintain the views over the Loire

Objectives

• Protect the landscapes produced by the Loire Valley's symbolic agricultural uses: vines, orchards and crop production, by limiting the spread of urban areas in particular.
• Safeguard alluvial grasslands. Combine crop commodities and quality landscapes.
• Endeavour to integrate farm buildings into their surrounding landscape.

Proposals for action

• Protect farmland from periurban pressure in urban planning documents. Include rules concerning the construction, extension and renovation of farm buildings in urban planning documents.
• Identify the most critically endangered agricultural sectors in the PLU landscape appraisal. Sustain them in the form of "greenbelts", and even establish Protected Agricultural Zones for the most vulnerable sectors.
• Support the farming industry, particularly livestock rearing and operations to restore farmland hedges by introducing specific financial assistance.
• Protect landscape structures when required by the situation: N zoning, Listed Wooded Areas, remarkable landscape features.
• Promote the setup of Natura 2000 contracts to maintain alluvial grasslands.