Residential visual amenity assessment in EIA

10th July 2012


Related Topics

Related tags

  • Energy ,
  • Construction ,
  • Stakeholder engagement ,
  • Renewable

Author

IEMA

LUC's Rebecca Knight considers the growing importance of residential visual amenity as part of environmental impact assessment (EIA) for windfarms

Residential visual amenity means visual amenity from residential properties including their gardens. It is a subset of residential amenity, which also includes aspects such as noise, light, vibration and shadow flicker, and it is becoming increasingly important in EIA for renewable energy developments, particularly windfarms.

The approach taken by reporters in Scotland, and inspectors in England, confirms that in planning no individual has the right to a particular view. However, there may be a point when, by virtue of the proximity, size and scale of a development, a residential property would be rendered so unattractive a place to live that planning permission should be refused. The question of when a property becomes an unattractive place to live relates to the property and not to the occupier.

A landscape architect’s or planner’s assessment?

The assessment of whether a change in outlook materially harms residential amenity or living conditions is ultimately a planning judgement, and may be set out as part of a planning statement or as part of witness’ evidence.

However, a judgement on the visual component of residential amenity is often needed from a landscape architect to inform the planning judgement, and this is increasingly being undertaken as part of EIA.

It is important to note that a significant adverse change to an outlook from a property does not in itself result in material harm to living conditions – there needs to be a degree of harm over and above this to warrant a refusal in the public interest.

Which criteria might be used?

There is no published guidance on how impacts on residential visual amenity should be assessed, or the criteria that should be applied in considering the extent of any such impacts. However, the matter of consideration of potential effects on living conditions has been examined at several public inquiries:

The inspector’s decision in respect of the proposed Sixpenny Wood development states that: “There is no right to a view per se, and any assessment of visual intrusion leading to a finding of material harm must therefore involve extra factors such as undue obtrusiveness, or an overbearing impact leading to a diminution of conditions at the relevant property to an unacceptable degree”.

At Enifer Downs, Inspector Lavender considered the extent to which the visual experience from the dwelling and garden may be comparable to “actually living within the turbine cluster” rather than a turbine cluster being present close by, and the extent to which the turbines were “unpleasantly overwhelming and unavoidable”.

Meanwhile, at the Burnthouse Farm appeal, the inspector posed the question: “would the proposal affect the outlook of these residents to such an extent, ie to become so unpleasant, overwhelming and oppressive that this would become an unattractive place to live?”

In considering these and other appeal decisions, it is clear that the visual effect of a windfarm has to be commonly described as overbearing, oppressive, unpleasantly overwhelming or unavoidably present in main views, for there to potentially be material harm to living conditions.

The following may inform the assessment:

  • The scale of change in the view, including composition in the view and proportion of the view affected.
  • The degree of contrast or integration of any new features into the view.
  • The duration and nature of effect, whether temporary or permanent, intermittent or continuous, for example.
  • The angle of view in relation to the main activities of the receptor.
  • The relative size and proximity of new features in the view.

The importance of objective assessment

Assessing the effect of changes in outlook from properties has been a key focus of many recent public inquiries for wind energy developments and is of considerable interest to people living close to proposed developments.

At LUC our landscape architects undertake objective visual amenity assessments from residential properties to inform this important and developing aspect of EIA.


This article was written as a contribution to the EIA Quality Mark’s commitment to improving EIA practice.

Rebecca Knight is a landscape architect at LUC. [email protected]

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

IEMA Impact: Shaping a sustainable future with impact assessment

Lisa Pool on how IEMA is shaping a sustainable future with impact assessment

27th November 2023

Read more

IEMA responded in September to the UK government’s consultation on the details of the operational reforms it is looking to make to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) consenting process as put forward in the NSIP reform action plan (February 2023).

24th November 2023

Read more

Members of IEMA’s Impact Assessment Network Steering Group have published the 17th edition of the Impact Assessment Outlook Journal, which provides a series of thought pieces on the policy and practice of habitats regulations assessment (HRA).

26th September 2023

Read more

In July, we published the long-awaited update and replacement of one of IEMA’s first published impact assessment guidance documents from 1993, Guidelines for the Environmental Assessment of Road Traffic.

1st August 2023

Read more

Are we losing sight of its intended purpose and what does the future hold for EIA? Jo Beech, Tiziana Bartolini and Jessamy Funnell report.

15th June 2023

Read more

Luke Barrows and Alfie Byron-Grange look at the barriers to adoption of digital environmental impacts assessments

1st June 2023

Read more

Susan Evans and Helen North consider how Environmental Statements can be more accessible and understandable

1st June 2023

Read more

IEMA’s Impact Assessment Network is updating its advice note on non-technical summaries (NTS).

31st May 2023

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close