RESIDENTIAL AMENITY
VISUAL RESIDENTIAL AMENITY
ISSUES HOW TO ADOPT A ROBUST APPROACH
The perceived impact on the views and outlook of nearby residential properties is increasingly appearing as a reason cited when refusing planning permission for wind energy development.
PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH Typically environmental assessments will not forensically examine the impact on the nearest residential properties to a proposed turbine. In the absence of such information, a case officer will adopt a precautionary approach.
DETAILED INFORMATION One reason is all that is required for a refusal either by the local planning authority or at an appeal. It is therefore key that sufficient detailed information is submitted to demonstrate to the case officer or inspector that relevant affected properties, when viewed objectively in the public interest, will remain an attractive place in which to live with the wind energy development operational.
RESIDENTIAL VISUAL AMENITY STUDY (RVAS)
Such a residential visual amenity test has been rehearsed through a number of Inspectors’ appeal decisions.
Undertaking a Residential Visual Amenity Study (RVAS), at the application or appeal stage, provides the opportunity to address this issue by examining the nearest residential properties to establish whether a proposed turbine would have an overbearing or overwhelming affect upon the property’s outlook.
A RVAS reviews the hierarchy of the property’s elevations and their orientation in relation to the proposals, the degree of fenestration, use of the rooms on each floor, the distance of the property from the proposed development, the views from the property’s curtilage including the garden and other areas, the horizontal and vertical arc of view affected by the turbines, and the screening effect of vegetation and built form in the intervening distance.
These are examples of factors that can mitigate and militate against the visual impact upon a property so whilst a turbine may be visible, it may not be so dominant that it would cause an unacceptable level of harm to a property’s visual amenity.
TIME AND EFFORT
The time and effort incurred in undertaking the robust forensic approach of a RVAS can help secure planning consents and deliver operational wind energy developments.
Pegasus Planning
www.pegasuspg.co.uk
e = See enhanced entry online
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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