Boffa Miskell Ltd | Waihi North Project | Landscape and Visual Effects | 21 Stream between the Coromandel Forest Park and the formed end of Willows Road. Approximately 900 m of additional riparian enhancement planting would be provided in this area. 6.2.3 Landscape Character Landscape character is derived from the distinct and recognisable pattern of elements that occur consistently in a landscape. It combines biophysical, sensory and associative landscape dimensions and reflects combinations of geology, landform, soils, vegetation, land use and features of human settlement and their associations. It creates the unique sense of place defining different areas which are appreciated as a distinct landscape. During implementation and operation, part of the Willows Road site will gradually change through sequences of deposited material as the WRS is formed. The establishment of supporting facilities such as the workshop and wash bay will remain comparable to the size, scale and nature of agricultural buildings that are observed in the wider area, expressing a contained node facilitating broader working rural land management practices. Most of these facilities are located within lower lying areas of the Willows Road site and enclosed by landform alongside existing and proposed vegetation to ensure minimal external views and no detrimental effects on the surrounding open rural character. The majority of vegetation that characterises the Willows Road site will remain and retain the rural amenity of the area through a predominant cover of pasture and various shelterbelts and tree stands. Although part of Unnamed Tributary 2 will be affected as a consequence of the project, this occurs alongside substantial enhancements along riparian corridors within the site and along an adjoining section of the Mataura Stream. Moreover, enhancements to existing tributaries to the north and south of the Willows Road site will reinforce natural patterns and the associated quality of the environment within these modified aspects of this rural landscape. The activities of the project will be visible through the movement of large machinery and earthworks. A variety of quarries are present in the wider area, including within the Willows Road site and a more substantial quarry to the east of the site off Corbett Road. While the earthworks necessary to construct the WRS are of a relatively much larger scale, such activity has been sited to remain visually contained and integrated within the surrounding landscape. At completion, the WRS will be removed with the land recontoured to the original landform and returned to use as arable farmland with riparian areas re-established. In essence, the nature of landform modification and its subsequent rehabilitation will continue to contribute to the surrounding rural land uses which characterise this area. Following rehabilitation, the landscape character of the Willows Road site will appear largely unchanged and continue to be associated with a working rural landscape. Within this context, the project, including landscape and ecological mitigation embedded in the design, has been configured to ensure adverse landscape character effects remain localised and largely reversible in the context of broader environmental enhancements. A large proportion of the associated activity will remain visually concealed or visible at distances of approximately 2 km (in the vicinity of SH25 and Corbett Road), with most external views continuing to be characterised by a series of moderate to steep landforms of pasture which characterise the Coromandel Foothills. Given the relative containment of views within a portion of the site, and measures undertaken to reduce and rehabilitate effects on the landscape character of the Willows Road site, it is considered that any adverse effects during implementation and operation will remain relatively limited and will not detract from the open rural character of the surrounding landscape. Following rehabilitation, the form and scale of the rehabilitated landform and pattern of proposed vegetation would complement and reinforce this existing area of rural landscape.
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