Galloper Wind Farm Project - National Infrastructure Planning

2842_LVIA
September 2011
GALLOPER WIND FARM SUBSTATION
Countryside Agency methodology (Landscape Character Assessment
Guidance, 2002) and other recognised guidelines, in particular the
Institute of Environmental Assessment and the Landscape Institute’s
Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, second
edition 2002; Scottish Natural Heritage’s ‘Visual representation of
Wind Farms Best Practice Guidance’ (2006, albeit published in May
2007); and, the Companion Guide to PPS22 (ODPM, 2004). The
assessment is necessarily iterative, with stages overlapping in parts.
17.1.7. These methodologies commonly aim to systematically appraise the
existing landscape and visual resource to provide a baseline against
which the key Landscape and Visual effects can be predicted and
evaluated and their magnitude and significance assessed in a logical
and well-reasoned fashion.
Baseline
17.1.8. The baseline study establishes the planning policy context, the scope
of the assessment and the key landscape and visual receptors. It
includes the following key activities:
� A desk study of relevant current national, regional and local
planning policy for the site and surrounding areas.
� Agreement of the main study area radius with the local planning
authority. Typically this is dependent upon site or development
specific factors.
� A desk study of nationally and locally designated landscapes
within the agreed study area.
� A desk study of existing landscape character assessments for the
site and surrounding areas, at national, regional and local level.
� Draft Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV) studies to assist in
identifying potential viewpoints and to indicate the potential
visibility of the proposed development, and therefore the scope
of receptors likely to be affected. The methodology used by LDA