Somerset Landscape Sensitivity Assessment

The assessment is concerned with the sensitivity of the landscape surrounding key settlements. The settlements considered are listed in Table 2.1. The revised Somerset Landscape Character Assessment (2025) provides the spatial framework for this assessment.

Individual assessment areas around each settlement are determined by applying a 500 metre radius from the settlement edge, and then dividing this into ‘assessment parcels’ determined by changes in landscape character corresponding to divisions in landscape character types. In some cases, the buffer is less than 500 metre where a physical feature serves as a logical boundary. These features may contain the settlement edge within the landscape or separate it from the wider surroundings – for example, motorways (as seen in BR2, NP1, and NP2) or ridgelines (as in ST2).

The number of assessment areas for each settlement ranges between two and five, depending on the scale of settlement and diversity of the surrounding landscape. These assessment areas were agreed with Somerset Council and resulted in a total of 49 geographically distinct assessment areas.