Galloper Wind Farm Project - National Infrastructure Planning

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3.2. Landscape Designations
Refer to Figure 01.
3.2.1. In March 2010 Suffolk Coastal District Council adopted its Core Strategy as
interim planning policy for determining planning applications. The interim
policies do not replace the saved policies from the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan
but sit alongside them. There is no specific AONB policy in the adopted Core
Strategy.
3.2.2. Suffolk Coastal District Local Plan Policy AP98 Renewable Energy is
concerned with renewable energy development and states that particular
care will be taken in assessing proposals for developing renewable energy
projects within areas of special designations, referring specifically to Areas of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Special Landscape Areas (SLA).
Whilst the proposed GWF is not located within any special landscape
designations, the potential impact on views from landscape designations
found within the Suffolk Coastal District is considered as part of this
assessment.
3.2.3. The national, regional and locally important landscape/seascape designations
falling within the jurisdiction of Suffolk Coastal District Council comprise
the following:
Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB
3.2.4. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB extends from the northern side of the
Stour estuary to the south of Ipswich, to Kessingland in the north and covers
much of the land between the A12 trunk road and the coast. The landscape is
a patchwork of shingle beaches, crumbling cliffs, marshes, estuaries,
heathland, forests and farmland. It is deeply indented by the estuaries of the
Alde and the Deben and bordered by the cliffs and tidal silts of the North Sea
coastline.
3.2.5. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales are designated
under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, solely on
account of their natural beauty, with the aim of conserving and enhancing it.
Together with National Parks (and National Scenic Areas in Scotland) and
Heritage Coasts, AONBs make up the family of protected landscapes in the
UK. The landscapes within these designations are recognised as being of the
very highest quality and, as such, they are afforded the highest status of
protection from damaging development at all levels of the planning system.
3.2.6. AONBs form part of a world-wide network of 40,000 protected landscapes
recognised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature