The coastline and 'seascape' of England and Wales is an important resource for many reasons. It is an economic asset which attracts visitors for holidays and recreation, and it contributes to the quality of life of people living near the coast. It is also a crucial element in these nations' sense of identity and culture, having played an important role in their history and development. Coastal landscapes and seascapes are also key for nature conservation, hosting many important plant and animal species and habitats, and are often recognised through statutory landscape and nature conservation designation.
Taking these values into account, there is an increasing need for advice on the environmental impacts of deploying tidal stream energy developments to meet renewable energy demands. It is important that marine renewables are developed in harmony with both the landscape and the needs of other users of the seascape resource.
LUC carried out a sensitivity study to allow the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and others to assess the potential seascape impacts of marine renewable development proposals. We completed the landscape sensitivity evidence base to feed into a GIS spatial tool being developed by CCW. The sensitivity information provides an important evidence layer of the tool to inform the response of the Welsh Assembly Government to the deployment of tidal stream devices around the coastline of Wales.
The sensitivity study concentrates on the four areas of greatest tidal stream activity, namely the coastal waters off Anglesey, Lleyn Peninsula, Pembrokeshire and Severn Estuary. LUC assessed sensitivity in relation to seascape character, landscape character, landscape quality and views and visual amenity and developed an overall sensitivity judgement for discrete areas of the sea for both demonstration and commercial tidal stream devices.
The identification and creation of these discrete seascape units was a crucial step in developing the sensitivity judgements, and one that posed its own challenges given the lack of precedents. The use of advanced GIS modelling enabled a logical and systematic approach to be taken that provided a robust and cross-comparable framework within which sensitivity ratings could be applied. The result was a colour-coded map allowing sensitivities to be easily compared across the four study areas as well as within them, with the full text upon which the sensitivities were based provided in appendix.
