Landscape Capacity Study for Wind Farm ... - North Ayrshire Council

within the Kelburn Wind Farm Supplementary Environmental Information
(SEI) report (2008) are the most useful, being the most up to date in terms of
current proposals and clearly produced. A limited selection of visualisations
from the Kelburn Wind Farm SEI has been reproduced to illustrate the key
landscape and visual issues highlighted in the capacity study. Although the
Leapmoor proposal has been withdrawn and the Waterhead Moor proposal
altered since the time of survey, a number of key sensitivity issues are
highlighted through analysis of the general location of these developments
and it therefore remains valid to consider them as theoretical case studies
within the cumulative assessment.
Assessment of landscape sensitivity
2.19 The assessment uses landscape character areas as a basis for the
landscape sensitivity assessment and makes judgements of the sensitivity of
each character area to wind energy development by assessing potential
effects on key characteristics sensitive to such development (in its various
forms). The method separates out physical landscape qualities and
perceptual qualities associated with the experience of that landscape. It
therefore allows judgements on each criterion to be made explicit. The
assessment involved the following tasks:
Assessment of Sensitivity to Wind Energy Development
2.20 Field survey was undertaken by two professional landscape architects,
experienced in the assessment of both wind farm development and the
process of landscape character and capacity assessment, using a checklist
from key viewpoints to record sensitivity to the development typologies
against the following criteria:
� Landform and scale
� Landscape pattern and foci
� Settlement and built features
� Landscape context (effect on sensitivity from other landscape character
areas in view including assessment of wider landscape composition)
� Perceptual qualities associated with the landscape including the sense of
remoteness and naturalness likely to be experienced
2.21 In terms of assessing the potential effects of wind farm development on key
characteristics, judgements were generally made on turbine height first. The
potential effect of the number of turbines was then assessed by gauging the
geographical area that would be covered and considering how the ‘extent’ of
development would relate to scale, landform, settlement and landscape
pattern. The visualisations produced within the Environmental Statements for
proposed wind farm developments within the study area (which varied greatly
in the number of turbines, although less so in their height) were found to be
useful in informing the assessment.
2.22 The assessment of landscape sensitivity considers the degree and nature of
change on key characteristics, gauged through a combination of analytical
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