Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

C.7.2 Levels of significance
What are Levels of Significance
Significance is the weighting of the relative importance of identified values. Valued
landscape character and features that are likely to be significant are those which
contribute to existing quality of life, high scenic quality, help understand the past, enrich
the present, and which will be of value to future generations.
The rating of significance usually involves comparison with other similar places alongside
the consideration of the extent to which values are likely to be held across communities or
cultural groups (e.g. at local, regional, state, national, international scales), and/or the
strength and importance of the values within the community who holds them.
The significance of any one value is usually given a rating of either local, regional, state,
national or international importance.
What are Levels of Significance used for
Assessing and rating landscapes for their relative significance assists in providing a sound
strategic basis for future decision making. The Wind Farms and Landscape Values: National
Assessment Framework (2007) concludes that ‘applying a rating of significance to
landscape values is essential to defining and assessing the acceptability or otherwise of
impacts upon those values’.
A preliminary assessment of landscape significance is essential to allow for early
identification of highly significant landscapes and to inform site selection and locational
decisions.
How do I go about it
Determining Levels of Significance
Increasingly, strategic assessments consider the relative significance of landscape
character and features for the purpose of informing the application of controls or
guidelines for management. Some states have completed partial strategic landscape
evaluation studies across regions, including Victoria (e.g. Planisphere, 2006); South Australia
(e.g. Lothian, 2005); Queensland (e.g. Caboolture Shire, n.d.), which aim to identify highly
significant landscapes (or to provide frameworks for their identification). In each case,
these assessments are primarily concerned with visual character and scenic values,
however they all have some relevance and can provide a sound starting point for
assessing and rating the significance of potential wind farm locations.
There are many examples (such as the ones listed above) that provide guidance on how
the relative significance of landscapes should be measured. In Victoria, the Coastal
Spaces Landscape Assessment Study (Planisphere, for the Department of Sustainability and
Environment, 2006) identified the different levels of significance (local, state and national)
for all landscapes along the Victorian coastline (with state and national being the highest
priority for application of planning controls). The methodology used in determining levels of
significance is outlined below:
Apply the ‘Visual’ Significance Criterion
A single criterion is used to assess whether a landscape is visually significant:
The landscape is significant for its visual qualities, including landform features, views, edges or
contrasts, and for its predominantly natural or undeveloped character, in which development is
absent or clearly subordinate to natural landscape characteristics.
Visual significance is determined with reference to the ‘landscape components’ referred
to in the criterion: landform features; views; edges or contrasts; and natural or
undeveloped character. These are rated as having moderate, high or exceptional visual
qualities, as shown below:
Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010 Page 95