Lynda Thomson

Biography

Lynda Thomson is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute and is a Director of OPEN - now part of SLR. She has over 30 years’ experience gained in both the public and private sectors.

Over her career, Lynda has been involved in a wide range of projects from the construction of the Urquhart Castle Visitor Centre to the landscape design input to the Winchburgh Future Expansion Master Plan and the highly complex landscape and visual impact assessment (LVIA) for the London 2012 Olympics and Legacy development. More recently she has concentrated predominantly on the planning and LVIA of large-scale proposals such as utilities infrastructure, wind farms, headquarters and new settlements. This has included the determination of the landscape capacity for future development, site search and feasibility, LVIA and productions for planning inquiries and appeals. Lynda has appeared as an expert witness at Public Inquiries on behalf of Scottish Water and has a particular interest in renewable energy having written the LVIAs for over 25 onshore wind farm proposals since 1998.

Since 2010 the Seascape, Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (SLVIA) for offshore wind farms (OWF) and LVIA for the associated onshore infrastructure has been a key aspect of Lynda’s work, having leadership involvement in 30 such projects around the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Lynda authored the Moray West SLVIA and was previously involved in the Development Consent Order Examinations for the East Anglia ONE north and TWO offshore wind farms in England, all of which were consented. Having prepared the SLVIA and site selection for the onshore infrastructure for the Development Consent Order (DCO) application Lynda appeared as an Expert Witness for the Awel y Mor Offshore Wind Farm Examination in Wales, which was subsequently consented. She has undertaken peer reviews of the SLVIA chapters for offshore wind farms in the United States, Republic of Ireland and northern Scotland.