Belton Business Park landscape and visual appraisal (LVA)

Challenge

SLR’s Place team prepared the Landscape and Visual Appraisal (LVA) for proposals to relocate Cartwrights from Hatfield to Belton Business Park (formerly Belton Brickworks) in a phased development comprising the upgrade and expansion of the existing warehouse and hardstanding areas, vehicle access, offices and vehicle showroom.

Solution

The site is located on the Isle of the Axholme, an area of North Lincolnshire in the Humberhead Levels, which has a distinct character, with the name ‘Isle’ given since, prior to the area being drained, each town or village was built on ‘islands’ of dry raised ground in the surrounding marshland; andcontains one of the most extensive surviving medieval strip field farming systems in England.

The LVA included assessment of the potential effect of the development on the character of the landscape, particularly the historic field pattern of enclosures/open strip fields; effects on the local historic landscape character, since the site lies in an “Area of Special Historic Landscape Interest”; as well as visual impact on the Peatlands Way; Belton Country Park, and a restored landfill site to south which is likely to be opened up to public access in the future.

Impact

SLR prepared an illustrative landscape plan as part of the embedded mitigation proposals, which responds to and enhances the existing landscape features in and around the development site including the recently planted woodland on the adjacent landfill site, the former quarry lake, and the woodland along the edge of the Peatlands Way. Proposals to retain areas of rough grassland and introduce shrubs as woodland edge planting retain the existing level of biodiversity across the site whilst enhancing the potential for amenity uses in and around the proposed development.