12th June 2006, 03:42 PM
Interesting topic, and one that I have had to deal with fairly recently (although before the EH guidance, which I have just picked up from a previous post and not yet read), in a project where the key archaeology impacts were visual ones on the setting of SAMs and other sites.
We resolved the issue by working closely with a landscape architect and using a hybrid methodology, which we agreed with EH in advance.
We assessed the 'sensitivity' of a site to visual impact separately from its importance (thus dealing with the problem of whether an invisible monument has a setting). The landscape architect assessed the 'dominance' of the development in views from specific locations that were agreed with the curator and were important in relation to specific monuments. The grades of sensitivity and dominance were used together in a matrix to assess the significance of the impacts.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
We resolved the issue by working closely with a landscape architect and using a hybrid methodology, which we agreed with EH in advance.
We assessed the 'sensitivity' of a site to visual impact separately from its importance (thus dealing with the problem of whether an invisible monument has a setting). The landscape architect assessed the 'dominance' of the development in views from specific locations that were agreed with the curator and were important in relation to specific monuments. The grades of sensitivity and dominance were used together in a matrix to assess the significance of the impacts.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished