Generating light on landscape impacts - Campaign to Protect Rural ...

Return to contents11wind alongside other forms of renewable energy, given landscapeconstraints. This plan-led approach to onshore wind developmentwould ensure unacceptable damage to the landscape of rural Dorsetis avoided. 2119. Torridge District Council in Devon has adopted a landscape sensitivityassessment in order to understand how best to accommodatewind and solar electricity generation installations in its area.The assessment is part of the evidence base to support the emergingTorridge District Local Plan and will enable the Council to make ‘robust,well-informed decisions on the planning applications’ received forwind and solar photovoltaic developments. The assessment includeslandscape recommendations on the appropriate siting and scale offuture developments including onshore wind, within each of thearea’s 15 landscape character types (LCTs). Landscape strategiesfor the deployment of different technologies in each LCT have beendeveloped, to give an indication of how much development might beaccommodated in different LCTs. We welcome this approach as aneffective way of avoiding speculative onshore wind proposals.20. In Doncaster, CPRE views were informed by a local planning authorityassessment of landscape capacity for wind farm development.It describes areas with zero/low, medium or high capacity for windtechnology. The capacity study was undertaken at the same timethat Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council revised its landscapecharacter assessment and was published in March 2007. Much of theborough was assessed as having zero/low capacity for wind farmdevelopment, especially the very open flatlands (including theHumberhead Levels) to the east. This is where Tween Bridge wind farmis now situated; it was opposed by the Council, but before the capacitystudy was published (see above). No areas were judged to have highcapacity but the sites that CPRE South Yorkshire supported fell into themedium capacity category. The capacity study helped when decidingto support sites at Marr and Hampole, situated in very large scaleagricultural landscapes where hedges and field margins have beengrubbed out, resulting in giant fields which matched the scale of thedevelopment. The landscape capacity study is still considered robustand forms the evidence base for new policies currently being adoptedas part of the prospective Core Strategy.21. Without this local level strategic planning, CPRE fears more decisionswill be made on the judgement of Planning Inspectors at the appealstage, rather than at the local level. Increasingly, such decisions aremade according to national level policy drivers to the detriment oflocal considerations. There has been, for example, a noticeableincrease in the number of projects that have been subject to aplanning appeal, from 12 schemes in September 2010 to 20 schemesin June 2011. 22 Local communities then feel less empowered,creating conflict rather than co-operation in the planning system.22. CPRE has been tracking decisions made by the Planning Inspectorateand monitoring how Inspectors are taking account of differentconsiderations in making decisions. We present a number of casestudies below, which we believe high<strong>light</strong> some poor decisions made21Peacock, D, A Critique of the ProposedMaximum and Medium Scenarios forthe Contribution of Wind Energy fromLand Based Industrial Turbines, CPREDorset, 201122RenewableUK, State of the IndustryReport. Onshore and Offshore Wind:A Progress Update, 2011<strong>Generating</strong> <strong>light</strong> on landscape impacts: How to accommodate onshore wind while protecting the countryside