Planning Supporting Statement - Partnerships for Renewables

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Louth Canal Wind Energy Development The cumulative impact of wind generation projects, including ‘intervisibility’ 7.3.23 The ES has considered potentially significant effects arising from the proposed Development alongside other major developments, both existing and in the planning process but not yet built, such as other wind developments. A list of wind farm developments to be considered as part of the EIA was agreed with ELDC in advance of carrying out each environmental assessment. 7.3.24 The LVIA concluded that both in terms of landscape and visual effects during both the construction and operational phases there is a certain capacity in the wider landscape for the nature, scale and location of the proposed Development. This supports the findings of the wind farm capacity studies covering the assessment area and is borne out by the cumulative assessment findings where, taking into account existing and planned wind farms alongside other industrialising infrastructure already within the assessment area, it is considered that the Louth Canal Development would not significantly contribute further to any adverse cumulative landscape or visual effects. The contribution of wind generation projects to national and international environmental objectives on climate change 7.3.25 National legislation clearly recognises the importance of renewable energy in meeting climate change targets by reducing the UK‟s reliance on fossil fuels. The development at Louth Canal will support the UK Climate Change Programme and the Low Carbon Transition Plan and Renewable Energy Strategy. Policy 31: Priorities for the management and enhancement of the Region’s landscape 7.3.26 Policy 31 seeks to protect the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The proposal is 6.3km from the AONB and the Landscape and Visual Assessment has shown that the proposed development has a minor adverse impact from the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Area of Great Landscape Value. A viewpoint from A18 Road Corridor on the AONB boundary the impact is considered to be moderate adverse. The Landscape and Visual effect of the scheme on this area is therefore not considered significant and has minimal impact on views from the AONB. Policy 26: Protecting and Enhancing the Region’s Natural and Cultural Heritage 7.3.27 Policy 26 seeks to protect the regions natural and cultural heritage. The proposed Development is predicted to have no direct effects on buried heritage assets, scheduled ancient monuments, conservation areas or Registered Park and Gardens 7.3.28 The assessment identified direct visual effects upon the setting of a number of listed churches, including the Church of St Nicholas, North Coates, Church of St Lawrence Churchthorpe / Fulstow and the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Tetney. According to DMRB methodology the effect on these churches is considered to be moderate adverse and it is considered that this equates to “less than substantial harm”, as defined by PPS 5. 7.3.29 Chapter 10 of the Environmental Statement considers the impact of the proposals on heritage assets and archaeological issues. The proposal meets the requirements of PPS5, as the effects on identified heritage assets are considered to result in less than substantial harm to heritage assets as defined in PPS5. March 2012 28 Planning Supporting Statement Copyright Partnerships for Renewables Development Co. Ltd 2012 ©
Louth Canal Wind Energy Development 7.3.30 The proposed Development therefore meets the requirements of Policy 26 as it causes less than substantial harm to identified heritage assets. 7.3.31 The proposed Development is partly on agricultural land, however following construction the land will be returned to agricultural use. There will therefore be no permanent loss of agricultural land. Local Planning Policy 7.3.32 The saved policies from the East Lindsey Local Plan do not include a policy on renewable energy generation, as this was deleted by the Secretary of State in 2007. 7.3.33 The proposal conforms to policy A5 (Quality and Design) (a) as the design of the Development including its layout, scale and appearance do not detract from the distinctive character of the locality, as set out in the Design and Access Statement. The proposed Development also meets policy A5 (b) of this policy as it has minimal impact on medium and long term views as set out in Chapter 9 (Landscape) and the Environmental Statement. The proposal also includes an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the site post construction, helping to meet policy A5 (c). 7.3.34 The proposal also accords with Policy C11 (Lincolnshire Wolds AONB) as the final design of the Development has taken account for the potential for visual effects on the AONB, including a reduction in the proposed height of the turbines during design iterations to a scale appropriate for the site to optimise the visual design and minimise potential visual effects. 7.3.35 This policy mainly relates to development within the AONB and as this development is outside the AONB these remaining elements of the policy is not relevant to this scheme. 7.3.36 It is however worth noting that the Development site is 6.3km from the boundary of the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB and the conclusions of the Landscape and Visual Assessment demonstrate that the proposed development has only a minor adverse visual effect on the assessed views from the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Area of Great Landscape Value. As such the Development would not harm landscape features or the character, role, regional or local historic significance of the AONB, or inhibit the quiet enjoyment of it. 7.4 Other material considerations 7.4.1 The Regional Local Carbon Energy Opportunities and Heat Mapping Study is a material consideration for this planning application. This document demonstrates that onshore wind farms have the greatest technical resource potential in East Lindsey. The study also states that East Lindsey (outside the Lincolnshire Wold AONB) had the potential for 1000 to 1802.9MW of on shore renewable energy for electricity from commercial wind turbines. 7.4.2 The 2010 East Lindsey Annual Monitoring report shows that East Lindsey had a total capacity of 29.4MW on the 1 st April 2009, with the potential for two further onshore wind farm schemes to be delivered shortly providing another 19MW. The regional target for on shore wind is 175MW, whilst there is not local authority target, East Lindsey and other western local authority areas are highlighted in the study as local authority areas with the highest potential for renewable energy generation, including large scale wind turbine development. This report confirms that in principle East Lindsey has the potential to deliver further renewable energy schemes. March 2012 29 Planning Supporting Statement Copyright Partnerships for Renewables Development Co. Ltd 2012 ©
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Planning Supporting Statement - Partnerships for Renewables

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