What to do for LVIA?

While finding out the potential impact on your landscape, the professionals have to make out the features and elements of the landscape. They also focus on the designations and traits of the landscape. However, when the professionals deal with the visual impact, they have to manage the related visual amenities and views. Both the above elements are essential to for the report on LVIA. In few cases, the landscape specialists also address the issues. Thus, it is necessary to review the visual impact.

In lots of instances, we do a comprehensive assessment of environmental impact. You may choose LVIA as a part of this assessment process. For Landscape Visual Impact Assessment, the professionals usually get engaged in a discussion session. They also give instructions on the choice of site and various types of alternatives. All these instructions and discussions will help you to understand the effects of the proposed developmental works. You will also be able to find out the affordable and appropriate approaches.

Get the information from professionals

Different reporting scales are essential at various steps in the process planning.  The best landscape professionals know to prepare a standard report on LVIAs. They will give you information on development at the chosen site. For instance, they may create a comprehensive report on the choice of various options for infrastructure.

Most of the companies offer LVIA services for all types of developments in the properties-

• Commercial properties and properties for various uses
• Onshore and offshore wind farms
• Urban and residential
• Unconventional gas and oil
• The transport system, including road and railways
• Management of wastes
• Electricity transmission and product

Various LVIA services you get from a company

The LVIA professionals will help you in various ways-

• Thorough feasibility research to give you direction on the development opportunities
• Landscape analysis and survey
• Character evaluation for Landscape, townscape, and seascape
• Assessing the visual effects
• Proposals and Mitigation techniques
• Visualizations of photomontage and photography of site for the precise developmental representation
• Consultation service
• Analyze and collate the particular information
• Evidence preparation to manage all the inquiries of the public
• Qualitative assessment of the nighttime lighting and darkness
• Detailed evaluation of the amenities and dwellings

There are other ways in which you will get help from LVIA professionals-

• Study on the landscape sensitivity and capacity- Technical analysis to notify the choice of site and calculate the capacity
• Mapping the constraints and opportunities- The primary site characteristics mapping to develop the design rules

The landscape of any property and its views always have different features, sensitivities, and qualities. All these things cause a positive or negative effect on development. They also help you in making out the success in development.

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Determining visual effects and their significance are an intrinsic part of the LVIA assessment. This includes; looking at the contribution of each effect on the visual receptors. For each visual effect, the nature and sensitivity of the visual receptors are important. A methodical approach is required. For each effect identified. the nature of the receptors is then assessed. The nature of the visual effects are examined together with the nature of the effects on views and visual amenity. These will be assessed by the Landscape Architect in order to determine the significance of the visual effects.

Visual receptors may be for example, be looking at historic features in the landscape, such as listed buildings or historic landscapes, archaeological sites, hill forts, castles, ancient hedgerows.

The latest LVIA Guidelines place a greater emphasis of the need to examine the history and culture underlying a landscape as part of the landscape sensitivity. This is due to the inherent sensitivity of historic landscapes which cannot be recreated once lost. All the United Kingdoms landscapes are historic, but there are some landscapes we feel are precious. These landscapes are protected with National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Special Landscape Area classification.

Equally, visitors to the South Downs National Park are highly sensitive to changes in the landscape.

Hence the need to conserve and enhance these highly sensitive landscapes through LVIA and ES.

Determining susceptibility to changes in views includes a need to define; who will be affected by a change in the view? What is the nature of their view and what is the occupation of the viewer? What will be the duration of the visual effect? What is the proportion of the view of a certain landscape will be affected? A receptor may, for instance, be a retired, a local resident who treasures a certain view which they look at every morning at breakfast. Conversely, a receptor may be working on a farm nearby, not so sensitive to a change in the view. It is thus important to ask, who will be affected by the change in view?

Where the receptor is located will also give clues which will help to determine the visual sensitivity. In a National Park, of high landscape sensitivity, walkers will have high sensitivity to changes in their views, due to their location within a very sensitive landscape. The susceptibility to change in views is compounded by the essence of their occupation of recreation and walking, which relies heavily on the nature of the landscape and views for a primary source of inspiration and relaxation.

Ancient woodlands, historic settlement patterns and old, moated manor houses are all visited by millions of receptors every year for the same reasons and are thus deemed highly sensitive to changes in their setting.

LVIAs by Landvision in a protected landscape such as a National Park, or ANOB in Hampshire, Surrey, Kent and Sussex will take sensitivity and susceptibility of visual receptors to change in views, into account, when appraising LVIA and visual receptor sensitivity.

Value attached to a certain landscape is important in determining sensitivity to change. There needs to be recognition of the value attached to a certain view. For instance a site of heritage value, that is widely visited by enthusiasts will have a greater sensitivity and the value attached to the views of such a site will be high.

The baseline landscape and the effects of the development on the baseline are investigated. This requires information on the value placed on the landscape, which may be historic in Hampshire or Sussex, its evolution to the present and the associations of the site with Hampshire or Sussex local history. The valued parts of History and Cultural heritage will be protected and suitable mitigation and enhancements will be identified as part of the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments in Hampshire and Sussex.

The screening process by Landvision will consider characteristics of the project and the value placed on certain landscapes can be seen through notation in guidebooks, protection of the landscape using designations such as National Park or ANOB, references to certain landscapes in books and inspiration for paintings. What visual effects will the proposed development have on the on baseline landscape in Hampshire or Sussex? What will these be and can they mitigated for? Recognition of the value attached to certain views is important, just as the location, layout and components of the proposed development will be part of the LVIA. History and Cultural Heritage of Sussex are elements of this baseline assessment work in the latest guidelines for LVIA. The LVIA includes effects on the visual receptors who place importance on the visual amenity and landscapes associated with the settings of listed buildings and scheduled monuments, identifies in LVIA reports for developments in Hampshire and Sussex.

As part of the ES and LVIA reports, mitigation proposals and enhancement proposals may be required. Environmental Statement Reports and LVIA reports by Landvision will frequently describe mitigation and management of mitigation schemes as part of the LVIA and ES assessment reports. For further information; please go to the contacts page; or ring us on Landvision 01892 782200.

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LVIA and Valued landscapes

Valued landscapes, include those in South Downs National Park around Eastbourne and Lewes. These typically have high landscape quality, great scenic beauty, a sense of remoteness and associations with famous artists. Landscape artists Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious were inspired by Valued landscapes around Eastbourne and Lewes. They depicted scenic beauty of South Downs, now a protected landscape, the South Downs National Park (SDNP). Understanding how Valued landscapes and LVIAs fit together into the planning system can sometimes be difficult to unravel. Some highly Valued landscapes include those areas in SDNP, around the homes of artists and writers of the Bloomsbury group.

The South Downs

The Downs exerted a formative effect on the paintings of Ravilious, whilst Charleston lies in the heart of a Valued landscape, in South Downs National Park. Charleston was the country home of the Bloomsbury Group, of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and due to the inspiring landscapes and views of the South Downs, became home to artists and writers. Valued landscapes are often associated with artistic creativity. “In 1916 the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moved to Sussex with their unconventional household. Inspired by Italian fresco painting and the Post-Impressionists, the artists decorated the walls, doors and furniture at Charleston. The walled garden was redesigned in a style reminiscent of southern Europe, with mosaics, box hedges, gravel pathways and ponds, but with a touch of Bloomsbury humour in the placing of the statuary. In the house, the collection includes… work by Renoir, Picasso, Derain, Matthew Smith, Sickert, Tomlin and Delacroix.” (Extract from website of Charleston.) Paul Nash and his student Eric Ravilious, the 70th anniversary of whose death is being celebrated this year, are amongst the finest of our British landscape painters. These roving painters both found tremendous inspiration on the coast and in the countryside around Rye and Lewes. To the north, further inland the High Weald AONB is one of our Valued landscapes with strong associations near Sissinghurst to the world famous writer and garden designer Vita Sackville West.

Valued landscapes thus often have associations with designers. Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, based in Munstead, Surrey Hills AONB,  designed over 120 houses and gardens. Architect Edwin Lutyens worked on the design of the houses, whilst Gertrude designed garden layouts and planting. Together forming the Arts and Crafts movement which drew inspiration from the landscape of the Surrey Hills AONB. See; Munstead Wood, Busbridge, Surrey .

Gertrude Jekyll’s Arts and Crafts movement designed natural looking country gardens in a cottage garden style and woodland with wild gardens and meadows. This approach drew on the Surrey Hills Valued landscapes and was very different from previously designers work for formal Victorian rockeries and bedding schemes. Jekyll became the head of the cottage garden movement which then influenced Vita Sackville West. Vita was living and working in Kent and Sussex in Valued landscapes of her own, including the Kent and Sussex High Weald AONB. Vita’s writing and garden design style of cottage gardens led to associations with the rest of the Bloomsbury group in the Downs landscape and namely with Virginia Woolf who lived at Monks House in the South Downs.

Woolf in turn derived inspiration from the earth and her work was closely linked to the Valued landscapes in which she also lived and these inspiring Downland landscapes are closely associated with her most famous works. Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s 17th-century country retreat; “Nestled in the heart of rural Sussex,Monk’s House is a tranquil 17th-century weather boarded cottage inhabited by Leonard and the novelist Virginia Woolf from 1919 until Leonard’s death in 1969…Leonard and Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury Group are associated with the landscape of the Downs and with Monk’s House. It is still “full of their favourite things, the house appears as if they just stepped out for a walk.” (Extract form National Trust website.)

These properties form part of the character of our most Valued landscapes. The national treasures linked to the heart of Kent and Sussex, form part of the Valued landscapes of these artists and writers. The properties they worked on and in, the garden styles and wider landscapes they managed, are all inextricably linked to the Valued landscapes of South Downs National Park, The High Weald AONB as well as to the Surrey Hills AONB.  So too are Locally designated (AGLVs, SLAs)and Nationally designated landscapes (National parks and AONBs.)Associations with famous “locals” or personalities who lived in them, often overlap and merge to form parts of the landscape character of the highly Valued landscapes such as High Weald AONB of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, South Downs National Park of Sussex and Surrey Hills AONB. These places have very close associations with artists and writers who were inspired by the Valued landscapes in which they lived and worked.

Local landscape designations such as AGLVs and SLAs, vary in location and thus reasons for their designations vary accordingly. The reasons for these landscape designations are not always widely documented. The National Planing Policy Framework (NPPF) does not actually define Valued landscapes.

In March 2015 an planning inspector dismissed an appeal for up to 130 houses with open space on the edge of a village in Warwickshire.  The area did not have a formal landscape designation. He ruled that most countryside adjacent to villages would be “valued” by the locals, but this did not mean that it was a “Valued landscape” under paragraph 102 of the NPPF. He considered  that the only means of assessing the landscape was to undertake a professional analysis using the Landscape Institute’s guidelines.

In another appeal, which was again on the edge of a settlement in Devon, the Planning Inspector rejected the council’s claim that the land formed part of a Valued landscape under paragraph 109 of the NPPF. Permission was granted for up to 59 dwellings.

This chequered approach can make defining Valued landscapes more tricky. It may be harder to obtain a clear idea of why these landscapes were designated and to understand fully their relationship to the wider landscape in which they are located. A detailed LVIA can help to fill this gap and will update findings, ensuring protection and conservation of the landscape as well as suitable management. This will help to enable any potential development to be accommodated more sensitively within Valued landscapes which have local landscape designations. For further details on how we can help you with your LVIA, for informal landscape character assessment advice, or to discuss your landscape project, contact the specialist Landvision team on 01892 782200.

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LVIA and Designated landscapes.

In our long-running articles on LIVA, Charmaine Noel has written this one on LVIA and Designated landscapes. There is a hierarchy of designations for landscapes in the UK.

International and National designations.

These are the most highly protected landscapes; they have formal statutory protection which varies depending on which part of the UK you are in.

National Parks.

National Park; for example the South Downs National Park, but also National Parks in other parts of England, Wales, and Scotland.

If an LVIA is near to a National Park, it is vital that the value of the landscape and the basis for the national designation is looked at. Why is the landscape considered to be of national value? It may inspire or give feelings of tranquility and remoteness. There may be a unique sense of place derived from the views or great scenic beauty.  All of these can form part of the reasons for the highest landscape value and level of protection which is attached to a National Park. for example, South Downs National Park

Why does a particular landscape have a designation? What does this mean in the current climate and how will this landscape need to be managed as a consequence of its designation?

What aspects of a landscape designation are represented in the study area? These landscape features or characteristics will form part of the LVIA assessment. They may also be crucial in determining whether a particular landscape can accommodate change, or not.

Other National levels of Landscape designation are;

National Scenic Areas (Scotland.)

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) –  such as High Weald AONB (Kent, Sussex, Surrey), 

Surrey Hills AONB

Chichester Harbour AONB

Local landscape designations.

Locally protected areas under Local Plan designations (Areas of Great Landscape Value(AGLVs) Special landscape Areas (SLAs) buffer zones for AONBs, whilst Local Plans may show the extent of these areas as well as policies for Local landscape designations.

Conservation Areas.

Listed Buildings.

Tree Preservation Orders or TPO’s.

Important historic hedgerows.

Cultural heritage landscapes; historic landscapes, these may include listed gardens, historic sites such as castles or battlefields.

Valued landscapes – for instance, landscapes associated with a particular artist or writer.

So, how do we establish the value of a particular landscape? It is useful to look up the landscape designations and landscape character assessments.

Desk study forms part of the research undertaken prior to carrying out fieldwork. Local landscape character assessments, plus national landscape character assessments will help to determine the existing landscape character baseline of a site, as well as the certain values which society places on particular aspects of a landscape.

The collection of field survey notes of the up to date condition of the landscape are also very important in assessing landscape condition, a sensitivity of the landscape and its ability to accommodate change.

For further details on your LVIA, contact the Landvision team on 01892 782200.

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Landvision landscape architects undertake Environmental Statements (ES) reports and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIA) reports  across South East England, including Kent and Sussex. The ES and (LVIA) Landscape Visual Impact reports are required by LPAs (Local Planning Authorities) for a wide variety of projects in Sussex Kent and Surrey across the High Weald  or North Downs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or within the Southdowns National Park.

Latest Guidelines for the methodology used for ES and (LVIA) Landscape Visual Impact reports in Sussex, were revised in 2013 and now include increased value placed on recognizing importance of History and Cultural Heritage in LVIAs. Also, cumulative effects are now deemed more important in LVIAs. Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, 3^rd Edition, by The landscape Institute and Institute of Environmental Management and point to the increasing importance of both history and cultural heritage aspects and cumulative effects as being relevant to LVIAs in Kent and Sussex.

History and Cultural Heritage in Sussex, Kent and Surrey, is an intrinsic part of the LVIA framework of assessment. This includes; looking at historic landscape of Sussex , Kent and Surrey; setting of listed buildings and scheduled monuments. Also, other historic features in the landscape, such as historic hedgerows, Ancient woodlands, historic settlement patterns and old, moated manor houses. The LVIAs by Landvision in the 3 Counties will take historic elements into account, when appraising Cultural heritage in the LVIA.

Why is History and Cultural Heritage important in LVIA in Sussex? One of the first steps of our LVIA process, is to describe the baseline landscape and the effects of the development on the baseline. This requires information on history of the landscape in Sussex, its evolution to the present and the Cultural associations of this Sussex local history. The valued parts of History and Cultural heritage will be protected and mitigation will be requested in the report as part of the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments in Sussex.

The screening process by Landvision will consider characteristics of the project and whether proposed development will have any effects on baseline landscape in Sussex. What will these be and can they mitigated for? An overall description of the characteristics of the proposed development will be the project specification which is described. The layout, siting and components of the proposed development. Thus any LVIA will be based on these elements. History and Cultural Heritage of Sussex will form a part of this baseline assessment work. The nature of the landscape and visual effects, especially where these concern the setting of listed buildings and scheduled monuments, will be defined in LVIA reports for developments in Sussex.

As part of the ES and Landscape Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) reports, mitigation proposals and enhancement proposals may be required. Environmental Statement Reports and LVIA reports by Landvision will frequently describe any mitigation and monitoring of the effects which are predicted by the LVIA and ES assessment reports. For further information; please go to the contacts page or ring us on Landvision 01892 782200.

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