Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) in Planning

 

A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, or LVIA, is used to understand how a proposed development could affect the landscape itself and the views experienced by people.

Those are related questions, but they are not the same. A scheme can have a strong visual effect without materially changing the character of the wider landscape, or it can alter landscape character even where relatively few people see it. A proper LVIA keeps the two strands separate before bringing the conclusions together.

Planning Practice Guidance expressly identifies LVIA as a tool which can be used to demonstrate the likely effects of proposed development on the landscape. The industry-standard methodology is the Landscape Institute and IEMA’s GLVIA3, supported by the Landscape Institute’s 2024 notes and clarifications.

 

What does an LVIA assess?

 

An LVIA normally considers two linked but distinct subjects:

• landscape effects – changes to landscape character, landscape elements, patterns, qualities and the landscape as a resource
• visual effects – changes to views and visual amenity experienced by people at homes, roads, paths, workplaces, recreation areas and other viewpoints

A report which only says that a development “cannot be seen from many places” has not necessarily assessed landscape effects. Equally, describing landscape character without testing what people will actually see is not a complete visual assessment.

 

When is an LVIA required?

 

There is no rule that every planning application needs a full LVIA. The information should be proportionate to the scale, location and likely effects of the proposal.

An LVIA is commonly requested where development is large, tall, extensive, located in sensitive countryside or likely to be visible over a wide area. Typical examples can include:

• large housing or mixed-use development at a settlement edge
• solar farms, wind energy and Battery Energy Storage Systems
• quarries, waste sites and industrial development
• new roads and other infrastructure
• tall buildings, masts and pylons
• development within or affecting a National Landscape or National Park
• development affecting a Heritage Coast or locally valued landscape

The local validation list, pre-application advice and the local landscape evidence base are sensible starting points. An applicant should not commission a full-scale assessment simply because the acronym appears on a generic checklist, but neither should a genuinely landscape-sensitive proposal be submitted with a couple of photographs and a paragraph of assertion.

 

LVIA and Environmental Impact Assessment

 

LVIA can be carried out as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment, where the landscape and visual assessment forms part of the Environmental Statement. It can also be prepared as a stand-alone assessment for development which is not EIA development.

This distinction matters because “LVIA” does not itself mean that the project is subject to the EIA Regulations. The Landscape Institute has also distinguished formal LVIA undertaken for EIA purposes from landscape and visual appraisal used proportionately for other projects.

 

What is GLVIA3?

 

The third edition of the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, commonly called GLVIA3, was published by the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment in 2013.

It sets out principles and a recognised approach for assessing landscape and visual effects. The Landscape Institute published consolidated Notes and Clarifications in August 2024, which should be read alongside GLVIA3.

GLVIA3 is professional guidance rather than a statutory formula. It does not turn landscape assessment into a simple mathematical score. Professional judgement, a transparent methodology and a clear explanation of how conclusions were reached remain essential.

 

Landscape effects

 

Landscape assessment starts with the existing landscape. This can include national and local landscape character assessments, topography, vegetation, settlement pattern, field pattern, tranquillity, heritage influences, perceptual qualities and the condition of landscape elements on the site.

The assessor then considers the sensitivity of the relevant landscape receptor and the magnitude of change caused by the development. The result is used to form a judgement about the significance of the landscape effect.

A local designation is one part of that exercise, not a substitute for it. Planning Practice Guidance says locally valued landscapes should have their special characteristics identified and supported by proportionate evidence. Our separate guide explains local landscape designations.

 

Visual effects

 

Visual assessment is about people and views. The receptor may be a resident looking from a home, a walker on a public right of way, a road user, a visitor to a viewpoint or someone using a recreational area.

Not every view has equal sensitivity and not every visible change is harmful. The assessment should explain who can see the development, from where, how much of it is visible, the distance and context, the duration or frequency of the view and the nature of the change.

Residential visual effects can require particular care. Planning decisions protect amenity, but private views are not in themselves a planning right. The question is the effect on visual amenity and living conditions, not whether a householder’s favourite panorama changes at all.

 

How are viewpoints chosen?

 

Representative viewpoints should help the decision-maker understand the likely range of effects. They should not be chosen only because they make the development look good, nor should an objector’s most dramatic possible angle automatically become the sole basis of the assessment.

For larger schemes, viewpoint selection is often discussed with the local planning authority at scoping or pre-application stage. The set may include:

• nearby homes and settlement edges
• public rights of way and promoted routes
• roads and rail routes
• recognised viewpoints and recreational locations
• protected landscapes and their settings
• heritage locations where landscape and visual considerations overlap

A Zone of Theoretical Visibility can help identify places from which a development may theoretically be seen, but it is a modelling tool rather than proof of an actual visual effect. Buildings, woodland, hedges and local topography can materially change the real view.

 

Photographs, photomontages and visualisations

 

Visualisations can be extremely useful, especially for tall, extensive or unfamiliar development. They also need to be prepared consistently and transparently.

Camera position, lens, image size, viewing distance, seasonal vegetation and the way the proposal is rendered can all influence how an image appears. A photomontage should therefore be treated as technical evidence rather than a marketing image.

The Landscape Institute publishes separate technical guidance on visual representation of development. For major schemes it is sensible to agree the required visualisation standard and viewpoints before the images are produced.

 

Mitigation should shape the design

 

The best LVIA is not a document written after the layout has been frozen. Early landscape work can help move buildings, lower heights, retain important vegetation, change access arrangements, reinforce field boundaries and identify where new planting will genuinely reduce an effect.

Common mitigation can include:

• site selection and layout changes
• reducing height or massing
• retaining existing trees, hedgerows and landform
• new planting which reflects local landscape character
• using recessive materials and finishes
• controlling lighting
• protecting important gaps and skylines
• phased or advance planting where justified

Planting is not instant mitigation. The assessment should distinguish effects at opening or completion from those after landscape mitigation has had time to establish.

 

Cumulative landscape and visual effects

 

Planning Practice Guidance says cumulative landscape impacts need careful consideration. GLVIA3 also contains detailed guidance on cumulative effects.

This can be particularly important for energy, infrastructure and settlement-edge development where the issue is not simply one scheme in isolation but the combined effect of existing, consented and reasonably foreseeable development.

The scope should be sensible. A cumulative assessment becomes less useful if it includes every hypothetical project ever discussed, but it can be misleading if obvious nearby schemes are ignored.

 

What should an applicant check?

 

• check the local validation list and pre-application advice
• identify national and local landscape designations and relevant landscape character assessments
• decide whether a full LVIA or a proportionate landscape and visual appraisal is appropriate
• agree important viewpoints early for larger or contentious schemes
• separate landscape effects from visual effects in the assessment
• consider seasonal, construction, operational and cumulative effects where relevant
• use the assessment to influence the design rather than merely justify it afterwards
• make sure visualisations follow an appropriate recognised method

 

Official and professional guidance

 

Planning Practice Guidance – Landscape

Landscape Institute – GLVIA3 and current clarifications

Landscape Institute – Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment

Other Planning Application Sections

 

LVIA Page Created: 27th August 2026