DEV25 - Nationally protected landscapes

The highest degree of protection will be given to the protected landscapes of the South Devon AONB, Tamar Valley AONB and Dartmoor National Park. The LPAs will protect the AONBs and National Park from potentially damaging or inappropriate development located either within the protected landscapes or their settings. In considering development proposals the LPAs will:

1. Refuse permission for major developments within a protected landscapes, except in exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated that they are in the public interest.
2. Give great weight to conserving landscape and scenic beauty in the protected landscapes.
3. Give substantial weight to other natural beauty criteria, including the conservation of wildlife and cultural heritage in the AONBs and great weight to the conservation of wildlife and cultural heritage in Dartmoor National Park.
4. Assess their direct, indirect and cumulative impacts on natural beauty.
5. Encourage small-scale proposals that are sustainably and appropriately located and designed to conserve, enhance and restore the protected landscapes.
6. Seek opportunities to enhance and restore protected landscapes by addressing areas of visually poor quality or inconsistent with character, securing through the development visual and other enhancements to restore local distinctiveness, guided by the protected landscape’s special qualities and distinctive characteristics or valued attributes.
7. Support proposals which are appropriate to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the area or desirable for the understanding and enjoyment of the area.
8. Require development proposals located within or within the setting of a protected landscape to:
   1. Conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the protected landscape with particular reference to their special qualities and distinctive characteristics or valued attributes.
   2. Be designed to prevent the addition of incongruous features, and where appropriate take the opportunity to remove or ameliorate existing incongruous features.
   3. Be located and designed to respect scenic quality and maintain an area’s distinctive sense of place, or reinforce local distinctiveness.
   4. Be designed to prevent impacts of light pollution from artificial light on intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation interests.
   5. Be located and designed to prevent the erosion of relative tranquility and, where possible use opportunities to enhance areas in which tranquility has been eroded.
   6. Be located and designed to conserve and enhance flora, fauna, geological and physiographical features, in particular those which contribute to the distinctive sense of place, relative wildness or tranquillity, or to other aspects of landscape and scenic quality.
   7. Retain links, where appropriate, with the distinctive historic and cultural heritage features of the protected landscape.
   8. Further the delivery of the relevant protected landscape management plan, having regard to its supporting guidance documents.
   9. Avoid, mitigate, and as a last resort compensate, for any residual adverse effects.