Somerset Landscape Sensitivity Assessment

Provided below are a series of generic guidance principles to help accommodate both residential and commercial development. It should be read in conjunction with the more detailed information provided in the updated Somerset Landscape Character Assessment.

All types of development should aim to:

• Be sensitively sited and designed with, scale, form, detailing, and materials to be in-keeping with existing settlement form and vernacular, and to avoid being overly visually intrusive.
• Be sited to avoid locally higher ground, prominent skylines or ridgelines and where visibility is unavoidable, use appropriate materials which are compatible with the local vernacular.
• Be sited carefully to relate to the existing settlement pattern, retaining the individual identity of settlements and avoiding the perception of piecemeal development along roads and/or a sense of merging with other settlements.
• Promote the use of traditional materials and signage features (particularly in proximity to more historic parts of settlements such as conservation areas) in order to limit urbanising effects along roads.
• Retain tree/vegetation cover that is essential to the character of an area, and consider opportunities for new planting using locally appropriate species, to help integrate new development within the landscape.
• Ensure new landscape components are in character with the locality, form part of a coherent green infrastructure network, consider climate change and provide ecosystem services. The latter could include increasing pollinating insects, providing water storage, preventing soil erosion, enhancing water quality and enhancing sense of place.
• Enhance nationally and locally important habitats and species through appropriate landscape design and management where appropriate and agreed.
• Maintain, manage and expand priority habitats and hedgerow networks, aiming to strengthen local landscape character, link existing and new habitats to help minimise impacts on, and provide net gains for, biodiversity.
• Retain and enhance key landscape features such as woodland, small-scale irregular field patterns, hedgerows, hedgerow trees, and meadows. Seek to retain these features to form established boundary features for new development, integrating it better within the landscape.
• Encourage sustainable and multi-purpose woodland planting where appropriate and promote traditional woodland management techniques with local landowners. Look to expand existing areas of woodland where appropriate to the character of the landscape.
• Where possible, retain intact field patterns, restocking existing degraded hedgerow and hedgebanks, replacing fencing with hedgerows using locally characteristic species, and through consistent management.
• Preserve and where possible restore historic field patterns and parkland and historic features that contribute to the character of the landscape. Preserve landscape elements that enhance the setting of these features.
• Manage and enhance recreational resources to provide public enjoyment, while protecting areas of high ecological importance and appropriately siting any associated features (such as car parks and picnic areas) to avoid impacting the rural character of public footpath/bridleways which cross the assessment parcel.
• Be designed with reference to the Somerset Landscape Character Assessment (2025) guidance.
• Use 3D visual representations to understand the landscape and visual impact of development proposals – as set out in Landscape Institute’s Visual Representation of Development Proposals.

In addition to the above, commercial development should aim to:

• Ensure changes in level are sympathetic to existing contours, avoiding excessive cut and fill and the creation of unnatural landform or features where possible. Where unavoidable, changes in level should be able to accommodate appropriate landscape treatment to enhance the local character and biodiversity.
• Avoid unnecessary lighting wherever possible, ensuring that light spill is minimised and suitable direction cut-off lighting is used, ensuring that sensitive habitats and species are not affected, along with other nearby land uses.
• Ensure that employment development respects visual amenity of nearby residential properties.