A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) identifies the effect that a new development will have on views and the landscape itself. But why do you need a LVIA?
To Avoid Any Controversy
LVIAs can highlight any potential risks to the environment – it is possible that developments may disrupt some animals’ habitats (e.g., causing them to lose access to water or nesting areas). If you are unaware of this before you start your development and do not take steps to avoid this happening, local conservationists may start to protest against your developments. This can subsequently cause project delays and possibly even give your company a negative reputation.
To Help Your Planning Application
If your LVIA helps your local authority to see that your project will cause no harm to the environment and will not impact the aesthetics of the area, they may be more likely to grant you the planning permission. It is likely that you may be asked to provide an LVIA as part of the planning application anyway!
To Save You Time and Money
Having an LVIA completed allows you to consider all options properly and carefully before commencing with a development. Starting a development project without considering these options opens you up to the risk of an aspect of the development not going as planned and, therefore, needing to be changed. By identifying any potential issues before the developments begin, this will save you both money and time.
By having an LVIA assessment, you can put steps in to place to ensure that the process from planning to completion of the development is as smooth as possible, causing minimal distress and annoyance. If you are starting to work on a new development, contact us today to discuss how we can help, or visit our Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment page to find out more.
New App Leads To Increase In Concern About Trees
The online app, TreeTalk, has found a 50-fold increase in users since the start of lockdown in March 2020 – it is used to plot, map, and highlight the mature trees that are located within the London area. This increase in awareness has led to more requests for preservation than ever, and more outrage when trees are removed. Have you got a concern about trees?
Tree Benefits:
Trees on our streets have a variety of benefits, including:
Supporting local wildlife.
Reducing urban flooding by controlling the water level in the area.
Reducing temperatures in heatwaves (by providing shade).
Lowering issues associated with asthma (as the leaves trap pollution).
Improving mental health and wellbeing. Numerous studies have shown that spending time around trees or looking at trees can reduce blood pressure as well as slowing the release of the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline.
Reducing crime. According to studies, a 10% increase in mature trees led to a 12% decrease in crime. It is suggested that this is due to the fact that an area with more mature trees signals to criminals that the houses are better cared for and therefore subject to more effective policing by owners.
Trees are felled by councils and private companies every day for a variety of reasons. This can be for property development, preserving infrastructure (e.g., tree roots can affect roadways) or in response to concerns regarding health and safety.
Tree surveys will provide you with a detailed analysis of each tree surveyed, including the trees age, condition, and any risk it poses to development or to the public. If you do need to request that a tree is taken down, you will need to be aware that a mature tree will provide the benefits listed above. However, a sapling will often lack the height, foliage, or size to have as significant an impact. We would always recommend consulting with your local authority regarding any felling proposals and ensuring that a suitable replacement tree (of an appropriate size) is replanted at the same or a nearby location.
Contact Us If You Have A Concern About Trees
If you require a tree survey, as part of your development or to submit to your local authority, ProHort can help you. We can also recommend suitable trees to plant as replacements, to ensure your community continues to feel the benefits that trees can reward.
Technical Documents and Planning Permission
At various stages throughout your development, you may be asked to supply landscape based technical documentation to your local planning office. This may either be in support of an application (i.e., not required, but it provides the council with valuable information to make an informed decision) or mandatory. Find out more about Technical Documents and Planning Permission here…
So, what is the best practice you can follow to ensure the council get exactly what they require from you?
Firstly, we would always recommend that you check with your planning officer exactly what it is that they require. Some technical documents can be similar in nature, but you will find that there are many small differences that mean that one type of report is suitable, whereas another isn’t. For example, a Stage 1 tree survey will just report on the health of the trees on site, whereas a Stage 2 tree survey will consider potential development issues. Both reports have different purposes at different stages throughout a project, so you will need to ensure that you are not wasting time and money on the wrong document.
Secondly, where possible please consider liaising with both your planning officer and your landscape architect at the same time, ensuring they receive correspondence from each other. Often documents may contain the required information, but this can be hard to find, or not as clear as the council require it. If the council can liaise directly with your landscape architect, then the information can be identified as early and easily as possible.
Contact Us To Find Out More About Technical Documents and Planning Permission
Being mindful of these two steps will help your planning application to proceed seamlessly, providing all the parties with the information they need. Every council is different, so please do ensure you are meeting your specific council’s requirements. If you have any questions about the reports that you need, feel free to contact us for further assistance!
Does a WAC Test Mean My Site is Safe to Develop On?
WAC Testing only tests the soil for certain chemical levels as required by landfill companies. This determines whether the soil is safe to go to landfill and shows if it contains excessive levels of chemicals that will leach into the soil. Depending on the nature of your work, your local council or planning office may be happy to proceed with a WAC test, so please do liaise with them directly regarding your project.
Other planning offices may refer to Soil Guideline Values (SGVs). These are designed to assist professionals to assess the long-term risk to human health from low-level exposure to certain chemicals. The SGV values only cover certain specific substances which are known to cause risk to human health. The substances include:
Arsenic Toluene
Nickel Ethylbenzene
Mercury Xylene
Selenium PCBSs (Polychlorinated biphenyls)
Cadmium Phenol
Benzene
SGV values are different than the WAC values, so please do not presume that a successful WAC test will lead to your development progressing.
Contact Us To Find Out More About A WAC Test
ProHort would recommend liaising with your local planning team, to ensure that you are completing the correct soil analysis for the correct purposes. Two of our soil analysis packages offer an analytic report – if you let us know which values you would like us to analyse against, then your report can be tailored accordingly. Find out more about the soil analysis packages we offer by visiting our Soil Analysis page, or get in touch on 01782 479479 to speak to somebody.
A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) identifies the effect that a new development will have on views and the landscape itself. But why do you need a LVIA?
By having an LVIA assessment, you can put steps in to place to ensure that the process from planning to completion of the development is as smooth as possible, causing minimal distress and annoyance. If you are starting to work on a new development, contact us today to discuss how we can help, or visit our Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment page to find out more.
Trees on our streets have a variety of benefits, including:
Tree surveys will provide you with a detailed analysis of each tree surveyed, including the trees age, condition, and any risk it poses to development or to the public. If you do need to request that a tree is taken down, you will need to be aware that a mature tree will provide the benefits listed above. However, a sapling will often lack the height, foliage, or size to have as significant an impact. We would always recommend consulting with your local authority regarding any felling proposals and ensuring that a suitable replacement tree (of an appropriate size) is replanted at the same or a nearby location.
