Battery Storage - Landscape and Visual Appraisal
Project Overview
epd have been commissioned to conduct Landscape and Visual Appraisals (LVA) for proposed Battery Energy Storage Schemes (BESS) at a number of sites in England and Scotland. The appraisals considered and highlighted any potential landscape and visual effects resulting from the proposed development.
The appraisals aligned with the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments Third Edition (GLVIA3) looking at the effects on the landscape character and the visual receptors that interact within it.
Landscape Appraisal
The appraisals included the flowing stages:
- Desk based study including reviewing the National Planning
- Policy Framework Polices and the local plan policies relating
- to landscape and visual impact;
- Site surveys including visual photography to establish the
- baseline and the extent of the study area/visual envelope;
- The initial LVA(pre mitigation)
- Mitigation;
- Residual effects Appraisal (post mitigation);
- Cumulative effects
- Summaries and conclusions.
Viewpoints
We chose viewpoints (representative receptors) to ascertain and assess the locations from which the proposed development could potentially be seen. These viewpoints help us assess the visual effects from different perspectives. At a number of the sites, epd was also commissioned to undertake the landscape design for the schemes ensuring any mitigation derived from the appraisal process was incorporated.
Zone of Theoretical Visibility
A ZTV (or ZTI - Zone of Theoretical Influence) shows the potential visibility of a proposal and can help inform a site assessment.
Visual Appraisal
epd evaluated the impacts of the proposed development on the visual amenity of receptors in the study area. Public access considerations involved examining how changes might affect areas used for recreation and enjoyment by the local community.