Sustainability Appraisal
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Between 9 September and 4 November 2011 the Council consulted on draft district-wide planning policies to manage development in the District. You can find out more about this consultation on the Urban Areas Consultation page.
Central to the Sustainability Appraisal process is the Sustainability Appraisal Framework. This provides a format for describing, analysing and comparing sustainability effects. A standard approach has been developed for appraising draft planning policies and potential development sites for housing and employment against a range of economic, social and environmental objectives.
Individual Sustainability Appraisal Assessments were undertaken for each draft planning policy and potential development site in line with the Sustainability Appraisal Framework. The
Sustainability Appraisal Initial Findings Report (300kb pdf) and
Appendix (3.6Mb pdf) sets out the initial findings of the Sustainability Appraisal Assessments and highlights, in broad terms, which draft planning policies and potential development sites perform better against the sustainability objectives.
Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment
There is a mandatory requirement under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal of Development Plan Documents. Sustainability Appraisal is a process that identifies and reports on the likely significant effects of strategies and policies to ensure that decisions are made in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
Alongside this is a requirement to comply with the requirements of European Directive 2001/42/EC. This requires that a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) be undertaken for plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.
The sustainability appraisal is an evolving process and is done in stages:
- Stage A: Setting the context and objectives, establishing the baseline and deciding on the scope (Scoping Report)
- Stage B: Developing and refining options and assessing Effects
- Stage C: Preparing the Sustainability Appraisal Report
- Stage D: Consulting on the Draft Sites & Policies DPD and the SA Report
- Stage E : Monitoring the significant effects of implementing the Sites & Policies DPD
Sustainability Appraisal work stages completed
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As the responsible authority, the Council has to determine whether a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is required. Following consultation with English Heritage, the Environment Agency and Natural England, the Council has concluded that an SEA is required. Details of the determination, including reasons, can be read in the
SEA Screening Determination (18KB)
For more information about Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment, contact Tracey Rathmell on 01423 556588 or Andrew Hughes on 01423 556585.