Bernice with her 'South West Renewable Energy Champion’ award

Bernice Roberts, Principal Environmental Planner at the Landmark Practice was awarded a runner up prize at the Regen SW Green Energy Awards 2009, held on Tuesday 10 November at the Assembly Rooms, Bath. This annual event, hosted this year by the BBC’s Jonathan Dimbleby, is a celebration of the success of the South West’s renewable energy industry.

Bernice was nominated for the ‘South West Renewable Energy Champion’ category which recognises outstanding work of achievements of individuals that make a real difference to the development of renewable energy in the South West.

Wind turbine seminars

A short series of three half day workshops entitled ‘Supporting Planning Practice for Wind Turbine Developments’, held at the end of October at Government Offices South West in Bristol, have received very positive feedback and requests for repeat events

The workshops, organised jointly by The Landmark Practice, Regen SW and the RTPI, all focused on providing basic skills training to help local authority planning officers to address the specific demands of wind turbines in planning.

The seminars covered all aspects of wind turbine development, from drafting of planning policy, project inception, EIA screening and scoping and wind turbine technology basics, through an understanding of the developers perspective and dealing with community wind applications, to management of the development process and planning applications, wind farm conditions, dealing with appeals and sources of expert support.

Copies of the presentations made at the seminars will soon be avaiable at the RTPI Environmental Planning and Protection website.

Wind Tubines

The UK is subject to extremely challenging energy targets, which commit the country to producing 15% of all energy consumed in transport, heat and power generation from renewable sources by 2020, from a baseline of 2.25% in 2008.

The Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy (RES), published in July 2009, anticipates that on-shore wind generation will be required to provide a significant proportion of the new deployment to meet targets. This will represent a seven-fold increase in wind energy capacity.

The planning process to bring forward wind turbine development is potentially time consuming and costly to developers. The Landmark Practice specialises in preparation of Environmental Statements to inform applications for wind turbine developments.

We offer extensive experience of planning for wind turbines, and a one hundred percent success rate for the planning applications that we have managed to date. The Practice provides in-house capability in the following key disciplines:

• EIA Project Management
• Environmental Planning
• Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment
• Ecological Services

More information here

Wadi Dana, The Jordan Rift Valley

The Landmark Practice has been appointed to lead a year long pilot study of the impact of climate change on sensitive habitats in the Jordan Rift Valley. Working with internationally renowned climate change expert, Professor Sandy Harrison of Bristol University, Landmark will manage the project on behalf of the Jordanian Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.

Jordan is vulnerable to climate change, with anticipated temperature increases of 1 – 2 °C, increased evaporation, reduced recharge of aquifers and shrinkage of grassland predicted to cause desertification of semi arid habitats. The objective of the pilot study is to inform strategic planning for conservation and management so that strategies for adaptation and mitigation of biodiversity loss can be designed and implemented.

The project will use computer-based models to predict ecosystem change. Simulations will be used to identify changes in major vegetation types and ecosystem adaptations, including in the distribution of dominant and indicator species. The pilot project will help to identify priorities for training local agencies in strategic planning, and practical measures to monitor and implement methods to manage changes in vegetation, carbon and water cycling.

Project manager and Principal Landscape Architect Chris McDermott commented

‘We’re delighted to be involved in work which adds to Landmark’s skills in addressing climate change in a positive way. This builds upon our land use planning and green infrastructure work and our experience in bringing forward renewable energy developments. This project will give us practical experience of the tools needed to contribute to the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), to inform planning for climate change at a strategic and development management level.’