Assessing the visual impact of deep coal-mining

Four methods for assessing the impact of underground coal-mining on the visual landscape are discussed. Objective or physical methods are compared with a subjective landscape value approach. Advantages and disadvantages of the various methods are considered, and some conclusions are made regarding their applicability to land use planning and aesthetic control in mining districts. Of the three objective techniques (‘zones of visibility’, ‘proportion of views visible’ and ‘percentage of view occupied’), only the first has been applied in practice. It shows mine operations to be widely visible, providing one looks for them. But in randomly located views (the basis of the second and third techniques) the chance of sighting mine operations is only 8%, and they occupy less than 1% of the average view. However, all mining-related land uses (which includes the mine communities) occupy 7.3% of the average view. A method for gauging ‘landscape devaluation’ is introduced. This relies on landscape quality ratings made at randomly located field viewing positions. A strong non-linear relationship between mining's visual presence and landscape value is demonstrated, suggesting that objective measures of intrusion may serve as surrogate indicators for devaluation.