Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment of Existing Electricity Infrastructure in Nationally Protected Landscapes in England and Wales

The delivery of a landscape and visual impact assessment of sections of pylon in the Peak District and Snowdonia National Park.

Currently in Great Britain, there is a provision of £500 million for UK electricity transmission owners to mitigate the visual impact of existing electricity infrastructure in nationally protected landscapes. The money can only be spent on existing lines through Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks in England and Wales and National Parks and National Scenic Areas in Scotland. For National Grid, the electricity transmission owner in England and Wales, this means considering the visual impact of this existing infrastructure in National Parks and AONBs. National Grid refers to this as the ‘Visual Impact Provision’ or VIP.

Following a strategic assessment of all sections of overhead line in England and Wales, four sections were identified as having the most significant landscape and visual impacts on designated landscapes and subjected to more detailed technical and environmental assessment and engagement with stakeholders and communities. National Grid considered a range of different ways to reduce the visual impact of these sections of line. Given the sensitive nature of these protected areas, replacing existing overhead lines with underground cables was a determined to be the preferred option for removing the visual impact of a short section of pylon line in the Peak District National Park near the Woodhead Tunnel at Dunford Bridge and a 3km section of line across the Dwyryd Estuary in Snowdonia National Park near Porthmadog.

Formal landscape and visual impact assessment was undertaken by landscape architects working as part of multidisciplinary EIA teams. The proposed assessment approach was described as a ‘reverse’ landscape and visual impact assessment. Rather than the normal application of the LVIA process to proposed schemes and developments that do not yet exist, the aim in this case was to judge the effects of removing the impacts of large-scale infrastructure.

This project is significant because of its high profile, the national scale and significance of the problem posed and the fact that it provided a solution to a complex challenge which National Grid might otherwise have struggled to address. The successful outcomes could not have been achieved without the contribution of the landscape professionals.