A Study of Landscape Sensitivities and Constraints to Wind

APPENDIX 3: REMOTENESS AND TRANQUILLITY MAPPINGDefining Remote and Tranquil Areas1. The sense of remoteness and tranquillity associated with the North Wessex Downs is fundamental to the character of the AONB and are vital tothe enjoyment and appreciation of the landscape. As outlined under Theme 3 of the AONB Management Plan these special perceptualqualities are a fragile resource and under threat from a combination of factors, including major development, such as wind turbines, intrudinginto the open downland. Understanding and mapping areas associated with a strong sense of remoteness and/or tranquillity can help highlightkey constraints to wind turbine developments.2. The process for identifying levels of remoteness andtranquility is set out in this Appendix. It should benoted that thius was not an in-depth study in its ownright and is simply intended to help give greaterweight to judgements on these special preceptualcharacteristics.Desk Study3. The first task was to understand the distribution ofremote and tranquil areas across the AONB asidentified in the existing landscape characterassessment. This provides a very broad sieve andallocates each of the landscape types to one ofthree categories (Figure 1):(i)(ii)landscapes considered to be highly remote;landscapes with some remote or tranquilqualities;(iii) landscapes where remoteness and tranquillityis not a defining feature.Figure 1