Local Planning update for Renewable Energies

In May, at the Truro & Roseland Community Network Meeting, there was a discussion about a 'Landscape Report' that informs Cornwall Council's Local Plan. Previously we listed the two Landscape Character Areas covering Grampound with Creed and gave a summary of the design statements for renewable energies from the Landscape Report. (The full title for this 'Landscape Report' is Technical Paper E4 (a) An Assessment of the Landscape Sensitivity to Onshore Wind and Large Scale Solar Photovoltaic Development in Cornwall).

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Members at that meeting asked that Cornwall Council was urged to make the advice into a 'Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)' putting it out for formal public consultation.

There has now been an update in a letter to the network members from Terry Grove-White, Assistant Head of Planning, Housing & Regeneration, Cornwall Council. It says:

"As well as informing Local Plan policy, the Landscape Report also sets out detailed siting and design guidance for each of Cornwall's 40 'Landscape Character Areas'.  Although the Landscape Report contained some information on assessing cumulative impact the Council felt that further, more detailed guidance would be useful.  Such work has now been undertaken and is nearing completion.

I can confirm that the Council's planning guidance for wind development, including both the landscape guidance and additional guidance on cumulative impact will be published for consultation before being adopted as a formal 'Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)'.  The programme for undertaking consultation and progressing the guidance as a formal SPD is currently being developed but it is anticipated that it will be considered by the Environment, Heritage and Planning Portfolio advisory committee at its meeting in September to agree its approval for consultation."

It appears therefore that additional work has been undertaken looking at cumulative impact of wind turbines and solar farms and this will be reviewed by Cornwall Council in September - possibly going for public consultation after that.

Note: "Supplementary planning documents provide guidance on local planning matters. They can be quicker and simpler to prepare than development plan documents. There is no requirement for them to be listed in a local planning authority’s local development scheme, so they can be brought forward as circumstances change. Whilst they are not examined by an Inspector, a supplementary planning document is still subject to a process of consultation and engagement with relevant parties". Source: Planning Advisory Service.

Renewable energy and landscape sensitivity

At the May 2013 Community Network meeting a discussion on renewable energy projects and planning strategy in Cornwall was introduced by Ellie Inglis-Woolcock and Carol Reader of Planning and Regeneration for Cornwall Council.

They highlighted the Local Plan (download the draft Local Plan 8MB) which has just finished its public consultation. They also referred to an informal planning guide which many members were unaware of. It is technical evidence supporting the renewable energy statements in the local plan - Technical Paper E4 (a) An Assessment of the Landscape Sensitivity to Onshore Wind and Large Scale Solar Photovoltaic Development in Cornwall. It gives a guide as to how planners judge the impact of wind turbines and solar farms on the environment and is based on the Landscape Character Areas defined in 2008. Grampound with Creed is in two Landscape Character Areas (LCAs) - CA13 Fal Ria, Truro and Falmouth which contain Grampound Town, Creed and areas around the tributaries of the Fal, and CA40 Gerrans, Veryan and Mevagissey Bays which is most of the east of Creed ward. Cornwall Council have published a map of LCAs. The Technical Paper on landscape sensitivity for renewable energies needs to be read with these LCAs in mind and the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) but there are none in Grampound with Creed Parish.

For easy reference I've labelled the areas below on an excerpt from Cornwall Council's Interactive mapping service. The green lines mark the boundaries of the LCAs and the ones covering Grampound with Creed (CA13 and CA40) are labelled.

CA13 (i.e. Grampound Town, Creed and areas around the tributaries of the Fal)

Wind Turbines: Moderate (Moderate-high within AONB) Landscape Sensitivity.

"The landscape strategy is for a landscape with occasional single turbines or small to medium sized clusters of turbines, comprising turbines that may be up to and including medium scale outside the AONB with no turbines in the intimate wooded creeks, along undeveloped estuary edges or on the undeveloped coastal edge and its immediate hinterland. Within the AONB a landscape without wind energy development (except for occasional very small scale single turbines linked to existing buildings eg farm buildings)."

Solar PV: Moderate (Moderate-high within AONB) Landscape Sensitivity.

"The landscape strategy is for a landscape with occasional very small or small solar PV developments with no solar PV development on upper slopes, along undeveloped estuary edges or on the undeveloped coastal edge and its immediate hinterland. Within the AONB a landscape without solar PV development (except for very occasional very small scale well sited developments)."

CA 40 (i.e. most of the east of Creed ward).

Wind Turbines: Moderate (Moderate-high within AONB) Landscape Sensitivity.

"The landscape strategy is for  a landscape with occasional small clusters of turbines, or single turbines, comprising turbines up to the lower end of the 'large' scale, and with no turbines along the coastal edge or its immediate hinterland. Elsewhere within the AONB development limited to occasional very small scale single turbines linked to existing buildings (eg farm buildings)."

Solar PV: Moderate (Moderate-high within AONB) Landscape Sensitivity.

"The landscape strategy is for a landscape with occasional very small, small or medium solar PV developments, and with no PV development along the coastal edge or its immediate hinterland. Elsewhere within the AONB development limited to very occasional very small scale PV development."

There was disappointment at the meeting that a strategy is still not in place despite many years of work and that farmland and visual character may be lost in the absence of a strategy. There were technical and legal issues highlighted. However, the adoption informally and preferably formal adoption with public consultation of these technical documents was encouraged.