Landscape and Visual Harm The updated LVIA underestimates harm by focusing on summer views and ignoring significant winter visibility when planting provides little screening. The limited Photomontages are selective, relying on best- case conditions and failing to show true long-range and elevated viewpoints. The updated Glint & Glare assessment confirms that residual adverse impacts on residential receptors remain even after mitigation . Mitigation planting proposed is slow-growing and would take years to establish, during which openness is irreversibly harmed.
The developers reliance on a dated (2009) manufacturer’s technical note to demonstrate low reflectivity of solar modules is insufficient to fully address localised glint and glare impacts identified in the updated assessment. Temporary or partial screening does not offset the permanent loss of Green Belt openness — a point upheld in several appeal decisions. Local Plan policy and NPPF require protection of openness, not just visual screening; harm remains even if views are partly softened. 19