National Resources Wales COLD BLOW, WERNOG POWYS REVIEW
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National Resources Wales COLD BLOW, WERNOG POWYS REVIEW OF A SINGLE WIND TURBINE PLANNING APPLICATION January 2014 National Resources Wales COLD BLOW, WERNOG, POWYS SINGLE WIND TURBINE PLANNING APPLICATION Evaluation of Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) January 2014 TACP 10 PARK GROVE CARDIFF CF10 3BN Project Number: 60669 Report Revision No: 1 Revision No. Date of Checked by Date Approved by Date Revision 0 16.12.13 FC 16.12.13 JW 16.12.13 1 28.01.14 FC 28.01.14 JW 29.01.14 Contents 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Brief 1 1.2 Proposed Development 1 1.3 Scope of this Evaluation 2 2.0 Evaluation Methodology ........................................................................................ 3 2.1 Review of Documents 3 2.2 Site Visit 3 2.3 Best Practice Guidance 4 3.0 Evaluation of the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment .................................... 4 3.1 Introduction 4 3.2 Methodology (2. and Appendix 2) 5 3.2.1 Relevant Guidance ............................................................................................................................ 5 3.2.2 Assessment Methodology (Appendix 2) ........................................................................................... 5 3.3 Baseline Condition (3) 7 3.3.1 General ............................................................................................................................................. 7 3.3.2 Sources of Data (3.1) ......................................................................................................................... 7 3.3.3 The Site and Study Area (3.2-3.12) ................................................................................................... 7 3.3.4 Statutory and Non-statutory Landscape Designations (3.13 to 3.23) .............................................. 8 3.4 Description of the Proposals (4) 8 3.5 National Planning Policy (5) 9 3.5.1 General ............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.6 Effect on Landscape Character (6) 9 3.6.1 General ............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.6.2 Landscape Character Assessment (6.1 to 6.55) ............................................................................... 9 3.6.3 Conclusions on Landscape Character Assessment (6.55 to 6.61) ................................................... 11 3.6.4 Assessment of the Existing Landscape Character (6.62 to 6.79) .................................................... 11 3.6.5 Effect on Landscape Character (6.80 to 6.85) ................................................................................. 12 3.6.6 Summary (6.86 to 6.89) .................................................................................................................. 13 3.7 Effect on Visual Amenity (7) 13 3.7.1 Consultation (7.2) ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.7.2 Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV) (7.3 to 7.4)............................................................................... 13 3.7.3 Baseline Visual Receptors (7.6 to 7.37)........................................................................................... 13 3.7.4 Viewpoints (7.38 to 7.127) .............................................................................................................. 14 3.8 Effect upon Landscape Features (8) 15 3.9 Cumulative Landscape & Visual Effects (9) 16 3.10 Conclusions (10) 17 4.0 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 17 4.1 Methodology 17 4.2 Baseline Condition 17 4.3 Description of Proposals 18 4.4 Landscape Effects 18 4.5 Visual Effects 19 4.6 Cumulative Landscape & Visual Effects 19 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Brief National Resources Wales (NRW) has been formally consulted by the local planning authority, Powys County Council, on a planning application (Ref. P2013/1055) for a single wind turbine at Cold Blow, Clyro Powys. NRW has a statutory duty for the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty in Wales, and is a statutory consultee and advisor to Government and local planning authorities on development likely to affect Wales’s natural environment. The organisation has a duty to comment on the implications of developments such as wind turbines both in terms of possible impacts on nature conservation interests and on the landscape, historic landscape, access and general amenity value of the countryside. The Applicant has prepared a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) which incorporates a Cumulative Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (CLVIA) which included in the supporting documents submitted by the applicant and NRW need to assess and evaluate these documents in order to determine whether the assessment has been carried out in accordance with best practice guidance and whether the conclusions are reasonable and valid. This will assist them in determining the level of response required. The planning application is described as a non-Environmental Impact Assessment as the Welsh Government has deemed the project to be non-EIA. TACP have been commissioned to carry out the evaluation on behalf of NRW and the review has been undertaken by Fiona Cloke BSc MPhil CMLI, Associate to TACP, together with Jo Wall, Partner of TACP. Both are Chartered Landscape Architects with considerable experience of working within Wales and of preparing and reviewing landscape and visual impact assessments. 1.2 Proposed Development The wind turbine site is located in an area of rolling hills to the northwest of the Wye Valley and is approximately 60m to the north of the farm buildings at Wernog Farm and 650m east of Wern Fawr Farm, all near Clyro in Powys. the gird reference for the site is 319250, 246349. The site is in a field called Cold Blow, elevated at approximately 375m OD and near to the summit of Clyro Hill. The land cover is predominantly improved grassland with irregular shaped and medium sized fields enclosed by hedgerows and/or post and wire fences. The fields immediately around the turbine, and including Cold blow itself, are slightly larger than those in the surrounding area. There are many small areas of woodland, both irregular shaped blocks and linear woodland aligned to streams and valley sides. There are also linear and rectangular blocks of conifers in places. Review of LVIA for Cold Blow, Clyro 1 The proposal is to erect a single wind turbine with three blades and a maximum height from base to blade tip of 84 metres. The finish of the turbine would be in a low-reflectivity off- white colour. The turbine would be located on a steel reinforced concrete hexagonal base 12.3m across and 2.5m deep, and adjacent to a hard standing/crane pad of approximately 35m x 20m. The access track, maximum 5m wide, would lead from an existing field gate taking a curved alignment up slope to the turbine location. The width of this track would be reduced to 2m when the turbines are in operation. A temporary construction compound, 40 x 40m, would be located part way up this track. A substation/control room would be situated close to the entrance gate and this would have a 10 x 5m footprint and a height of 4.5m. There would be underground cabling from the turbine to the control building and further cabling to connect to the local network. The route of this cabling has not yet been finalised. The construction period is estimated to be about four months. The turbine would be operational for up to 25 years and before the end of this period a decision would be made as to whether to decommission the turbine or to replace/refit which would be the subject of a further planning application. Cold Blow is located 3Km northwest of Clyro, 2.2Km east of Painscastle and 1.4 Km southwest of Rhosgoch. The town of Hay-on-Wye is located beyond Clyro on the opposite side of the Wye Valley approximately 5Km from the site. The Brecon Beacons National Park (BBNP) is located to the south of Cold Blow and is approximately 4.6Km from the application site at its nearest point in Hay-on Wye. The special qualities of the National Park, as defined in the BBNP Management Plan, 2010-2015, include: The Park’s sweeping grandeur and outstanding natural beauty observed across a variety of harmoniously connected landscapes, including marvellous gorges and waterfalls, classic karst geology with caves and sink holes, contrasting glacial landforms such as cliffs and broad valleys carved from old red sandstone and prominent hilltops with extensive views in all directions. 1.3 Scope of this Evaluation This document includes an explanation of the methodology used in evaluating the Cold Blow LVIA in Section 2. The LVIA is then assessed in Section 3 with sub-sections relating to those provided in the LVIA itself. The numbers in italics relate to the numbered sections in the Cold Blow LVIA. Conclusions are itemised in the final Section 4. 2 Review of LVIA for Cold Blow, Clyro 2.0 Evaluation Methodology 2.1 Review of Documents Initial discussions with the client took place to clarify the precise scope of the evaluation. A series of documents which formed part of Planning Application P2013/1055 were accessed via Powys County Council's website including Planning and Environmental