Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment in Bristol and Bath

Around Bristol and Bath, three things combine more often than almost anywhere else in England: Green Belt, a National Landscape and a World Heritage city. Many sites have to deal with two of them at once. We prepare LVIAs, Landscape and Visual Appraisals and Townscape and Visual Impact Assessments across the four West of England authorities.

The landscapes around Bristol and Bath

The Bristol, Avon Valleys and Ridges (NCA 118) is a varied landscape of limestone ridges, wooded gorges and river valleys, including the Avon Gorge, the Chew Valley and the rolling farmland that separates the two cities. To the east, the Cotswolds (NCA 107) begins with the steep wooded slopes and plateau around Bath, and to the south the Mendip Hills (NCA 141) rise above the Chew Valley.

Bath and North East Somerset published an updated Landscape Character Assessment in 2021, and the other authorities each have their own studies. The local study, not the national profile, should set the baseline for a site-level assessment.

Green Belt, National Landscapes and the World Heritage Site

The Bristol and Bath Green Belt is one of the oldest in the country, and much of it overlaps the Cotswolds National Landscape. On these sites the landscape evidence often has to cover openness and the purposes of the Green Belt as well as effects on the National Landscape's special qualities, including its dark skies.

Bath is inscribed as a World Heritage Site, and its setting includes the green hillsides that enclose the city. Development on those slopes, even outside the city, can affect the outstanding universal value of the site, so the visual assessment needs to consider views to and from the city.

Since the August 2026 revisions to the NPPF, the grey belt test has become a live question on many sites around both cities. A clear landscape and visual analysis of the site's contribution to Green Belt purposes is now a common first step.

What this means for your application

• Address Green Belt and National Landscape together. Where both apply, the landscape evidence should speak to openness, Green Belt purposes and the special qualities of the National Landscape.
• Look at views to and from Bath. Hillside sites can affect the setting of the World Heritage Site.
• Use townscape assessment in the cities. In central Bristol and Bath, a TVIA is usually the right tool.

Our experience around Bristol and Bath

Recent work in and around the two cities includes:

• A Landscape and Visual Appraisal for a contemporary extension to a Grade II* listed care home in a Chew Valley village, within the Green Belt (see the case study).
• A daytime and night-time Landscape and Visual Appraisal for the renovation of a house in the Cotswolds National Landscape near Bath, covering Green Belt and dark-sky effects (see the case study).
• Landscape evidence for an extension to a house in a village south of Bath, in the Green Belt and the Cotswolds National Landscape.
• A Landscape and Visual Appraisal for a residential site on the edge of Bristol.

See also our Somerset and Gloucestershire pages and our projects.

Our Bristol and Bath services

• Landscape Technical Notes: desktop assessment for pre-application or householder schemes, from £750 + VAT
• Landscape and Visual Appraisals for proportionate assessment of less sensitive schemes, from £1,950 + VAT (see LVA consultants)
• Full Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIAs) to GLVIA3, from £2,950 + VAT, including EIA chapters
• Green Belt and grey belt landscape appraisals
• Townscape and Visual Impact Assessments for city-centre schemes
• 3D wireframes and photomontages prepared in-house (see visualisations)
• Landscape plans at every scale: a concept strategy for an outline application, a landscape plan for a full application, and a detailed hard and soft landscape plan to discharge conditions
• Landscape and ecological management plans
• Responses to landscape officer comments and appeal support

Frequently asked questions

• Do I need an LVIA for a planning application near Bristol or Bath?
  Usually for any scheme of scale in the Green Belt, in or near the Cotswolds or Mendip Hills National Landscapes, or on the hillsides around Bath. Smaller schemes often need only a Landscape and Visual Appraisal. We can advise once we know your site.
• Can a landscape assessment help with a grey belt case?
  Yes. Whether a site counts as grey belt depends partly on how it contributes to the purposes of the Green Belt, and landscape and visual analysis is a key part of that evidence. We prepare Green Belt and grey belt landscape appraisals focused on how the site is seen and experienced.
• Which designations apply around Bath?
  The Bristol and Bath Green Belt, the Cotswolds National Landscape and the City of Bath World Heritage Site, with the Mendip Hills National Landscape to the south.
• How much does an LVIA cost around Bristol and Bath?
  Our fees start at £750 + VAT for a desktop Landscape Technical Note, £1,950 + VAT for a Landscape and Visual Appraisal and £2,950 + VAT for a full LVIA. Wireframes and photomontages are quoted alongside the assessment. We give a fixed fee after reviewing your site. See our pricing page.
• Which office covers Bristol and Bath?
  Our Wells office, which also covers Somerset, Dorset and Devon.

Sources and further reading: Natural England National Character Area profiles, B&NES Landscape Character Assessment 2021, Bristol Local Plan, B&NES Local Plan timetable. Information checked October 2026.