Landscape and Visual Conclusion
The potential landscape and visual impact was greatly reduced from the outset by conducting a
site selection process taking into account potential impacts.
Overall, it is considered that, in the terms of Annex 10 of the EIAO TM, the landscape and visual
impacts are acceptable with mitigation measures. Whilst the project will give rise to certain
significant local effects on the landscape, it is considered that according to Clause 1.1c) “there will
be some adverse effects, but these can be eliminated, reduced or offset to a large extent by
specific measures”.
In reaching this conclusion, it is recognised that a certain percentage of the public will inevitably
find the appearance of the Project problematic. Indeed, given the degree to which subjectivity plays
a part in forming visual responses, as well as the extent to which the wind farm produces a variety
of responses from individuals, it would be unusual to encounter agreement from all parties.
However, wind turbines are relatively new features in the landscape worldwide, and research has
consistently shown that a clear majority of the public have responses towards their appearance
that are more favourable than towards other types of development in similar circumstances. In the
particular landscape and visual context of this Project, it can generally be concluded that for the
vast majority of VSRs the wind farm will not represent an unacceptable impact.
As a footnote to the above, it should be noted that this assessment represents a ‘worst case’
scenario. In particular, the impacts may in fact be eventually reduced from those shown in this
assessment by the following factors:
The potential landscape and visual impact was greatly reduced from the outset by conducting a
site selection process taking into account potential impacts.
Overall, it is considered that, in the terms of Annex 10 of the EIAO TM, the landscape and visual
impacts are acceptable with mitigation measures. Whilst the project will give rise to certain
significant local effects on the landscape, it is considered that according to Clause 1.1c) “there will
be some adverse effects, but these can be eliminated, reduced or offset to a large extent by
specific measures”.
In reaching this conclusion, it is recognised that a certain percentage of the public will inevitably
find the appearance of the Project problematic. Indeed, given the degree to which subjectivity plays
a part in forming visual responses, as well as the extent to which the wind farm produces a variety
of responses from individuals, it would be unusual to encounter agreement from all parties.
However, wind turbines are relatively new features in the landscape worldwide, and research has
consistently shown that a clear majority of the public have responses towards their appearance
that are more favourable than towards other types of development in similar circumstances. In the
particular landscape and visual context of this Project, it can generally be concluded that for the
vast majority of VSRs the wind farm will not represent an unacceptable impact.
As a footnote to the above, it should be noted that this assessment represents a ‘worst case’
scenario. In particular, the impacts may in fact be eventually reduced from those shown in this
assessment by the following factors:
- Constant ongoing advances in the efficiency of turbines mean that when the project
undergoes detailed design, it may be possible to use slightly smaller turbines to produce
the same output, or the same number of turbines to produce even more output of clean
renewable energy. - As has been noted above, this assessment assumes a 3MW turbine layout, which is
considered to be a very slightly worse case than the alternative 5MW layout. The 5MW
layout is predicted to produce a marginally lower magnitude of impacts both during
construction, due to approximately 40% fewer vessel movements required to erect the
smaller number of turbines, and also during operation due to the slightly less dense visual
appearance of the turbine layout. However this difference is not great enough to result in
the residual landscape or visual impacts falling within a different significance threshold. - Research indicates that VSRs undergo an ongoing process of habituation to new forms in
the landscape which have a positive environmental connotation and that they regard the
appearance of turbines more favourably after completion, than before they are built. It is
possible that the general public may continue to see the appearance of structures such as
wind turbines as being less and less problematic in the future.
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