3.2 Cultural and Aesthetic Guidelines 3.1 Functional Guidelines 3.2 Cultural and Aesthetic Guidelines 3.2.1 Introduction 3.2.2 Form 3.2.3 Line 3.2.4 Colour 3.2.5 Views (including scenic lookouts, road views, path and open space views) 3.2.6 Visual Co-ordination 3.2.7 Viewshed Protection 3.2.8 Signs and Utility Services 3.2.9 Landscape Conservation and Development 3.2.10 Heritage and Historic Structures and Sites 3.3 Ecological Guidelines GOAL That structures are sited and designed to culturally respect their setting and visually complement the surrounding coastal landscape. 3.2.1 Introduction The Cultural and Aesthetic Guidelines deal with cultural issues and with the appearance of structures, but include other facilities and factors such as car parks and the way they relate visually to their surroundings or the value people place on a setting or past events. These Guidelines also show how they impact on less tangible, and perhaps more important, matters of coastal landscape character and aesthetics. The siting and design of structures should generally be sympathetic to the character of the surrounding landscape, particularly with respect to the degree of naturalness of this landscape and its coastal related character. Landscape character is determined by both natural and cultural features. The natural features of a landscape include the vegetation, geology, landform, soils and the presence of water bodies. The cultural features include land uses, the character and arrangement of existing structures, and the extent to which the natural features of the landscape have been altered. Landscape character is also affected by climate - the driving rain squalls of the south west for example, the impact of far off ocean storms in the form of booming surf pounding up and over boulders and rock shelves. Then there are the intangibles which must be recognised in land planning - the important Aboriginal heritage going back perhaps 100,000 years and the important European maritime heritage of the coast, both of which are largely invisible. The latter is perhaps less obvious because much of that heritage derives from navigation in the days of sail with ships running aground, colliding, crew desertions, heroic rescues and the like with little evidence of all this remaining above sea level. Aboriginal heritage must have an important focus - some important sites of occupation marked by shell deposits (middens) with some implements and ash remains are often covered and only revealed by shifting sands and other erosive process or by excavation. As well, there are places that are important symbolically and these are more difficult to define. Notwithstanding, it is important to understand the significance to Aboriginal culture of any particular coastal area prior to making changes to the landscape. In coastal areas the maintenance and the enhancement of the distinctive features which contribute to the landscape character of the area is of prime importance. These features include: The presence of water Landforms such as beaches, bluffs, cliffs and estuaries and the views across the water afforded by them. The presence of sand in beach and dune formations. Distinctive vegetation which is tolerant of coastal conditions. Land uses associated with shipping, commercial fishing, and recreation activities such as swimming and sailing. Cultural influences of an historical nature including Aboriginal and European maritime heritage, associated with early settlements near port facilities. Existing buildings of all types which, in certain locations, often dominate the area. Many are of a character related to their coastal location or association with maritime activities. Landscape character is also informed by the composition of textures, forms, lines and colours of both the cultural and natural features of the landscape. To visually integrate a structure into the surrounding landscape and minimise visual conflicts, the elements of the structure should generally match or be sympathetic with the dominant elements of the surrounding landscape. A wall or groyne on a rocky cliffed coastline, for example, will appear as part of the natural landscape if constructed to match the colour, forms and textures of the adjacent cliffs. The character of a flat rural coastline is dominated by the major linear elements of the landscape, the shoreline and often the vegetation line behind the beach. Structures which break across these lines will be visually intrusive or sensationally effective.