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

and would appear to diminish the perceived vertical scale of the steep scarp above
the settled coastal edge.
Impacts on visual amenity
Kaim Hill is well-used by walkers and mountain bikers. It forms a key vantage point
for spectacular views over the Firth of Clyde and the islands to the west. The LVIA, in
asserting that turbines would be ‘visually permeable’, ignores the visual distraction of
moving blades and intrusion of access tracks and turbines in the foreground of what
are currently open views from the hill. Impacts on people accessing the hill would be
adverse and significant.
While the proposal would be visible from the settled lowlands to the east and south, it
would be seen in the context of existing and consented wind farm development which
would reduce its impact. The development however is sited on the western periphery
of the upland area and as such it would be visually prominent, significantly impacting
on views from settlements, roads and coastal areas in the adjacent ‘Raised Beach
Coast’ character area to the west. There would be adverse and significant impacts on
views from the settlements of Largs and Fairlie where turbines would be prominent
features seen in views from popular coastal esplanades and beaches. Existing wind
farm development is not visible from these settlements or the coastal fringe and
lower hill slopes between them at present.
The visualisations for viewpoints 5, 7 and 8 in the ES illustrate the likely visual
dominance of the Kaim Hill proposal seen from the settled coastal fringe. I consider
that the magnitude of change is under-estimated in the assessment from viewpoints
5 (Largs) and 7 (Kelburn Country Park) and that impacts on high sensitivity receptors
would be major not the moderate/major concluded in the ES. Whilst accepting that
views from these locations will tend to focus on the Firth of Clyde, the proximity of the
wind farm, its location on the skyline of hills which form the backdrop to the view and
overlapping of turbines would increase the magnitude of change.
Further to the west, there would be significant adverse impacts on views from the
Firth of Clyde, from Great Cumbrae and from the east coast of Bute. Although this
proposal only comprises 5 turbines, and therefore the extent of development visible
on the skyline would be limited, the turbines would be noticeably larger and more
visually prominent than other existing and consented wind farm developments visible
on the skyline of the North Ayrshire uplands from these areas.
The visualisations from viewpoints 2 and 4 illustrate the prominence of the proposal
further west from the islands of Great Cumbrae and Bute (Kilchattan). They are also
representative of views from the Firth of Clyde when sailing in the area. I consider
that there would be significant and adverse impacts on visual amenity from these
areas.
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