Shetland Local Landscape Designation Review: Final Report Prepared for Shetland Islands Council by Land Use Consultants October 2011 www.landuse.co.uk LUC SERVICES Environmental Planning Landscape Design Landscape Management Masterplanning Landscape Planning Ecology Environmental Assessment Rural Futures Digital Design Urban Regeneration Urban Design 43 Chalton Street 37 Otago Street London NW1 1JD Glasgow G12 8JJ Tel: 020 7383 5784 Tel: 0141 334 9595 Fax: 020 7383 4798 Fax: 0141 334 7789 [email protected] [email protected] 14 Great George Street 28 Stafford Street Bristol BS1 5RH Edinburgh EH3 7BD Tel: 0117 929 1997 Tel: 0131 202 1616 Fax: 0117 929 1998 [email protected] [email protected] DOCUMENT CONTROL SHEET Version Status: Version Details: Prepared Checked Approved by: by: by: Ver: Date: Principal 1 7/10/2011 Draft Final Report PDM SCO NJ 2 31/10/2011 Final Report PDM NJ NJ CONTENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2 INTRODUCTION 3 Study Context ........................................................................................................ 3 Scottish Planning Policy ......................................................................................................... 3 Shetland Policy Context ........................................................................................................ 4 Guidance on Local Landscape Designations ............................................................................ 4 Local Landscape Areas .......................................................................................................... 4 Project Aims and Objectives .................................................................................... 5 Study Area ............................................................................................................. 5 Structure of this report ........................................................................................... 5 3 METHODOLOGY 6 Desk Review ........................................................................................................................ 6 Audit of Existing Landscape Designations ............................................................................... 7 Landscape Evaluation ............................................................................................................ 7 Identification of Candidate Local Landscape Areas ................................................................ 14 Candidate Local Landscape Areas ........................................................................................ 16 4 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT 17 National Planning Policy and Advice ....................................................................... 17 National Planning Framework .............................................................................................. 17 Scottish Planning Policy ....................................................................................................... 17 Planning Advice Note 60 ..................................................................................................... 18 Guidance on Local Landscape Designations .......................................................................... 18 Local Planning ....................................................................................................... 18 Shetland Structure Plan ....................................................................................................... 19 Shetland Local Plan ............................................................................................................. 19 Local Development Plan ...................................................................................................... 19 Strategy and Guidance ........................................................................................................ 20 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 20 5 EVIDENCE BASE 22 Landscape Character Assessment ........................................................................................ 22 Other Baseline Information ................................................................................................. 24 6 AUDIT OF LANDSCAPE DESIGNATIONS 25 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 25 National Scenic Areas ........................................................................................... 25 Location, extent and boundaries .......................................................................................... 25 Key characteristics and special qualities ................................................................................ 26 Local Protection Areas .......................................................................................... 26 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 27 7 EVALUATION 28 Results by Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................ 28 Representativeness ............................................................................................................. 28 Rarity ................................................................................................................................ 28 Intactness ........................................................................................................................... 28 Scenic qualities ................................................................................................................... 29 i Enjoyment .......................................................................................................................... 29 Cultural qualities ................................................................................................................ 29 Naturalness ........................................................................................................................ 29 Rural pattern ...................................................................................................................... 30 Views ................................................................................................................................ 30 Weighting ............................................................................................................ 40 Total Scores ......................................................................................................... 40 Area of Search ...................................................................................................... 40 8 IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATE LOCAL LANDSCAPE AREAS44 9 CANDIDATE LOCAL LANDSCAPE AREAS 53 Document Information .......................................................................................... 89 TABLES Table 3.1 Evaluation Criteria ....................................................................................................... 9 Table 3.2 Evaluation questions and decision rules .............................................................. 10 Table 5.1 Landscape Character Units .................................................................................... 23 Table 7.1 Evaluation Scores ordered by LUC ...................................................................... 41 Table 7.2 Evaluation Scores ordered by total score ........................................................... 42 Table 8.1 Qualitative Analysis of the Area of Search ......................................................... 45 Table 9.1 Candidate Local Landscape Areas......................................................................... 53 FIGURES Figure 5.1 ..... Landscape Classification from Shetland Landscape Character Assessment Figure 5.2 ......................................................................................... Landscape Character Units Figure 5.3 ............................. Landscape Character Units and the Landscape Classification Figure 5.4 .................................................................................. Cultural Heritage Designations Figure 5.5 ................................................................................... Natural Heritage Designations Figure 6.1 ............................................................................................... Landscape Designations Figure 7.1 ....................................................................................................... Representativeness Figure 7.2 ................................................................................................................................ Rarity Figure 7.3 ......................................................................................................................... Intactness Figure 7.4 ............................................................................................................... Scenic qualities Figure 7.5 ....................................................................................................................... Enjoyment Figure 7.6 ............................................................................................................ Cultural qualities Figure 7.7 ..................................................................................................................... Naturalness Figure 7.8 .................................................................................................................