Offshore Wind: Landscape and Visual Impacts

Landscape and visual impact assessments

Landscape and visual impacts are among the most far-reaching effects of onshore wind farm developments. They are generally of greatest concern to the public, and are frequently the reason why wind farm proposals are opposed. However changes to the landscape happen all the time, and as such wind farm developments can be accommodated in the landscape.

Wind energy developers generally avoid the most sensitive landscapes, such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and routinely undertake assessments of landscape and visual impact when preparing planning applications.

The objective of a landscape and visual impact assessment is to:

  • assess any considered alternatives
  • describe the likely significant effects of the development on the landscape and visual resource (which should cover direct, indirect, secondary, cumulative, short, medium and long-term, permanent or temporary, positive (beneficial) and negative (adverse) effects of the development)
  • remove or reduce adverse effects through mitigation.

Because there are no clear criteria for defining significant effects in an assessment, both significant and non-significant effects are described to illustrate the thresholds used by the assessor.

The process

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) takes place alongside the landscape and visual impact assessment and the design of a wind farm layout. It is a continual process. Consideration of the landscape and visual effects of a proposal during the design process can produce schemes that are more acceptable, reducing or even removing any adverse impacts they might have.

Landscape and visual impact assessments are generally carried out in four stages:

  • scoping and defining methodology
  • baseline
  • project description
  • assessment

A baseline study will provide a clear indication both of the aspects of the landscape and of the visual resource that may be affected by the proposed development.

Landscape effects

Landscape effects can be either direct or indirect.

Direct effects include:

  • the quantifiable removal or addition of features to the landscape, such as the loss of trees, hedgerows or parkland
  • the addition of new features.

Indirect effects include:

  • changes to the perception of the landscape
  • changes in the character of an area
  • changes to the experience of being in a garden or designed landscape
  • changes to the experience of driving along a road or walking along a footpath.

Visual effects

Visual effects are the potential visual impact a proposal will have on:

  • individual or groups of visual receptors – houses, roads, paths, etc – where the study area and view of the development are relatively restricted
  • representative viewpoints, where the study area is extensive and the development may be seen from far away.

The landscape and visual assessment looks at the sensitivity of the baseline landscape and visual resource alongside the magnitude of the potential change as a result of the proposed development. This allows the assessor to decide whether any effects are ‘significant’ or ‘not significant’.

Any such effects are then considered in terms of whether they are:

  • adverse, beneficial or neutral
  • short, medium or long term
  • permanent or temporary
  • cumulative.

Offshore visual impact

Although similar considerations have to be taken into account for offshore wind farm projects, the further a wind farm is located from the shore, the less visual impact it will have when viewed from land. In the Greater Wash, the Thames Estuary and the North West, where large offshore wind farms are planned, an inshore zone of 8 kilometers from the shore, or 13 kilometers in places of particular environmental sensitivity, has been excluded from any potential development.

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