Final Sustainability Appraisal Report - Core Strategy DPD

Final Sustainability Appraisal Report - Core Strategy DPD

Contents

Section 1 - Summary and Outcomes2

Section 2 - Methodology5

Section 3 - Background7

Section 4 - The Scoping Process10

Section 5 - Plan Issues and Options18

Section 6 - Plan Options34

Section 7 - Implementation58

Appendices

1. Plans and programmes.

2. Baseline data.

3. SA Objectives compatibility.

4. Scoping Report consultees.

5. Issues and Options - Assessment matrices.

6. Initial comments to the LDF Project Leader, June 2005.

7. Report to the July 2005 LDF Panel and August 2005 Executive Board meetings.

8. Plan Options - Assessment matrices.

9. LDF monitoring.

Section 1 - Summary and Outcomes.

1.1Non technical summary

This report gives you information on what the predicted effects of the proposals in the Local Development Framework (LDF) will be on our environment, society and economy. The Local Development Framework will set out the policies on which decisions on whether to grant planning permission, or not, are made. These decisions effect the sustainability of our District, in other words, are we able to meet our own needs without prejudicing the needs of future generations for a clean environment, an active community and a vibrant economy.

The process is to find out what the issues facing the District are, set objectives to tackle these issues and then assess how far the proposal for policies in the LDF contribute to or detract from reaching these objectives. When options are considered by the Councillors the findings of the Appraisal guide their decision but cannot make it for them. We have now reached the submission stage and the results of the appraisal have been used to improve and refine the policies, a process called mitigation. Alterations are suggested to make any negative impacts less negative and positive effects even more beneficial.

The heart of this document is sections 6.1 to 6.3, which give a summary of what options were considered and what the predicted effects of these options were. These section also show how the assessment has led to changes in the LDF Core Strategy and what further mitigation measures were considered and which were incorporated into it.

The main effects of the Core Strategy are;

• To provide more housing, in particular affordable housing, to meet the needs of local families and of businesses looking to attract employees to the area.
• To provide the business community with space to operate, in particular for more professional and knowledge-based employment, but also supporting the horticultural and tourism sectors.
• To protect the landscape and habitats of the District. The effects of development on sites of European importance for wildlife will be subject to further assessment process known as Appropriate Assessment.
• To provide and maintain community facilities from village halls to shops and pubs.
• To use more resources to support new development (energy, water, road-fuel, land), but to try to minimise their use without compromising the other effects above too much.
• To ensure that the District can adapt to climate change, (e.g. increased risk of flooding, sea level rise, hotter drier summers).

The main mitigation measures are ways to;

• Ensure development is located near to employment opportunities, shops and facilities, and offers a choice of ways to travel.
• Ensure that development can meet its own resource needs as far as possible, for example generating its own energy, minimising water demand and dealing with drainage within the site.
• Ensure that the District has functioning natural systems that make space for wildlife and for water.
• Provide for high-quality tourism that allows for rural diversification without overwhelming the natural environment that attracts the visitors.
• Ensure that existing buildings are re-used wherever possible, and previously used land is also developed before greenfield sites.
• Protect the local character and distinctiveness of the District through good design that is sensitive to its surroundings.

1.2Statement on the difference the process has made

The detailed history of how the appraisal process has informed and altered the development of the Core Strategy can be found in Sections 5.5, 6.2 and 6.3. To summarise, the main changes so far are;

• Sustainable construction standard raised to BREEAM ‘excellent’, and threshold for its application lowered from 5 to 1 dwellings.
• Policy on wildlife protection extended to include enhancement and creation of habitats, and to cover whole district, not just legally protected sites and species.
• Viability criteria introduced into Liv6 to support the clean up of contaminated sites.
• Policy on Horticultural development refined to take account of water use and light pollution.
• Employment provision policies extended to include criteria on reducing need to travel and re-using land.
• Positive take up of national guidance on integrating sustainable energy into a wide range of development.
• Planning for coastal squeeze and habitat movement / coastal re-alignment introduced.

1.3How to comment on this report

This document was submitted to Government on 5th May 2006. It is the District Council’s final draft of the Sustainability Appraisal report. It forms part of the evidence base for the soundness of the choices made in the LDF Core Strategy. It is published alongside the Submitted Core Strategy DPD of the Local Development Framework. We would welcome any comments you may have on this document, in terms of accuracy, balance or methodology used for the appraisal of the options. In particular, representations on the tests of soundness as they relate to this document are welcomed, as these tests will be considered by the Planning Inspector at examination.

The District Council has produced a “Step by Step Guide to making Effective Representations” which will help you to make representations in the appropriate way. To make your views known please complete the representation form available separately, or alternatively complete the form on the District Council’s website,

E-mail your response to:

Or Fax it to:

01243 534558

Or Post it to:

FREEPOST CHICHESTER LDF

All comments must be received no later than 4.30pm on Friday 16th June 2006.

For more information on the Sustainability Appraisal process, for additional copies of this document or for copies of the preceding Scoping Report, Initial Sustainability Appraisal, or the Preferred Option Stage SA report please contact:

Tom Day, Environmental Coordinator

Chichester District Council

East Pallant House

1, East Pallant

Chichester

West Sussex

PO19 1TY

Telephone: 01243 534854

Email:

Section 2 - Methodology

2.1 Approach adopted.

This sustainability appraisal incorporates the requirements of the SEA directive for a strategic environmental assessment of plans and programmes. It also incorporates the requirements of Planning Policy Statement 12 for a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of Local Development Frameworks (LDFs). The sustainability appraisal incorporates economic, social and environmental issues. Where this results in different findings or recommendations from the SEA process, this is highlighted, but this dual purpose should be born in mind when reading the document.

The basic approach is to identify:

i) sources of baseline data

ii)existing plans and programmes that have already highlighted environmental, social and economic problems and areas of concern at the local and regional level.

A framework of objectives are then set that address the issues identified and seek to improve the environmental / sustainability situation. This framework of objectives is then used as a ‘yardstick’ against which to qualitatively predict the effect of proposals in the LDF. This assessment is made with regard to the likelihood of effects, their severity, whether they are short, medium or long term effects and any cumulative or uncertain effects. Recommendations are then made to improve or ‘mitigate’ the proposals.

The aim is firstly to improve the environmental impact / sustainability of any proposal in the LDF through appraising and modifying proposals. Secondly, as it is never possible to eliminate all negative impacts and maximise all positive ones, the SA report will inform decision makers as to the predicted effects of their choices and so help explain to the wider public how choices were made, what impacts remain and why the particular balances struck have been made.

In terms of the particular methodology used, the guidance issued by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister in November 2005 has been followed wherever possible. For previous stages of the process the draft guidance issues in September 2004 was followed. Sometimes advice has changed after certain stages have already been reached. For example an Initial Sustainability Appraisal was produced alongside the Issues and Options stage of the Core Strategy Development Plan Document (DPD). This stage was required under the draft guidance available at the time but was later removed from the guidance in order to simplify it. However the timetable for producing the Core Strategy DPD was such that the SEA/SA had to be carried out in advance of the full guidance emerging.

2.2When the SA was done

The process of Sustainability Appraisal is iterative and therefore continually updated. To date four stages of Sustainability Appraisal have taken place.

1. Scoping Report – This detailed the baseline data, identified issues and set the SA framework. This document was first completed and issued for consultation in October 2004. This document was then revised following the consultation in December, with the revised text being issued in January 2005.

2. Initial Sustainability Appraisal – This report was prepared in December 2004 and set out the predicted implications for sustainable development of the options detailed in the Issues and Options paper of the Core Strategy DPD. This was issued for consultation on 28 January 2005 in conjunction with the Issues and Options Paper of the Core Strategy DPD. Consultation responses were received until the 11th March 2005.

3. Full Sustainability Appraisal - The full sustainability appraisal, was prepared between June and September 2005, in time for consultation alongside the Preferred Option stage of the Core Strategy DPD. The consultation period ended on November 4th 2005.

4. Final Sustainability Appraisal – This is the final stage in the Sustainability Appraisal process prepared between December and March 2006. During this time the baseline data, plans and programmes and sustainability indicators have been reviewed to take in to account changes over time and consultation representations. This final report provides the appraisal of the overall sustainability impacts of the plan and is published alongside the Submission Draft Core Strategy in May 2006.

2.3Who carried out this SEA/SA?

The whole SEA/SA process for the Core Strategy has been carried out by the Environmental Strategy Unit of Chichester District Council. This team is responsible for development and implementation of policy and projects that contribute to sustainable development with the Council and the District as a whole. The team forms one half of Environment Policy Services, the other half being the Policy and Projects unit who are responsible for the development of the LDF. Therefore the SEA/SA team work alongside the policy planners preparing the LDF, but are independent of them. A single Head of Service unites the two teams.

2.4Who was consulted and how

In order to include a broad range of views the Council has consulted widely both externally and with other departments within the Council at different stages of the Sustainability Appraisal. The Scoping Report was sent to the four statutory consultees under the SEA Regulation (The Environment Agency, English Nature, the Countryside Agency, and English Heritage), 12 additional consultees and CDC’s own Heads of Service (see appendix 4). Comments and representations received were considered and in January 2005 a revised Scoping Report was published to incorporate these.

The Initial Sustainability Appraisal document was sent to all statutory consultees on the LDF consultation list, as detailed in the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement. The document was also made available to any consultee via the CDC website ( and, on request, to all other consultees who were sent paper copies of the Issues and Options paper as pointed out in the covering letter.

The full SA report was consulted on at the same time as the Preferred Option paper and in a similar way to the Initial SA. Copies were sent to statutory consultees, (QUANGOs, NGOs etc.), with the availability of the SA report pointed out to all others who were sent the preferred options paper through the inclusion of Section 1 as a freestanding summary. Consultation comments and representations were received until November 4th 2005. Where specific comments were made with regard to the Full SA Report or the SA process these have been considered. This final report has been updated and where appropriate incorporates these comments. A summary of all consultation representations to the Preferred Options Core Strategy DPD will be made available to the public.

For more information on how to respond to this Final SA report please see section 1. Views are invited on this SA report. Representations will be forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration as this is a submitted SA and the District Council will not have the opportunity for further alterations. The Planning Inspector will examine the soundness of the plans and the Sustainability Appraisal during late 2006. It is important that you refer to the tests of soundness when making a response as these will be the basis of the Inspector’s consideration of the Core Strategy and SA report.

Section 3 - Background

3.1 Purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal

Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 Local Development Documents are required to be subjected to a sustainability appraisal (SA). The main purpose of this process is to appraise the social, environmental and economic effects so that decisions will be made in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development.

The term sustainable development has been widely used since its inception by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 and refers to “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

The UK government has set four aims for sustainable development:

• social progress which recognises the needs of everyone;
• effective protection of the environment;
• the prudent use of natural resources; and
• maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

At the same time as a sustainability appraisal the plan documents are required to be subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) pursuant to European Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes. Whilst the SA examines all sustainability related effects the SEA is focused primarily on its environmental effects.

The SA and SEA are distinct, however there is a large amount of overlap between the European requirements and the SA. This allows these to be combined into one process for our LDF assessment. For the purposes of this document the combined process will be referred to as the Sustainability Appraisal. This will be undertaken in accordance with government guidance ensuring that the requirements of the SEA Directive are met. This report forms the consultation draft of the environmental report required under Article 5 of Directive 2001/42/EC and addresses parts (a) to (j) inclusive of the information referred to in Article 5(1), as listed in Annex 1 of that Directive (see section 3.3 below).

3.2 Spatial objectives of the Core Strategy

1. To manage change and development, ensuring that the needs of all the community are recognised and planned for so that we achieve a district that supports social, economic and environmental well-being.

1. To support and create sustainable communities, balancing the needs of today for new development with the need to protect the environment for future generations.

1. To maintain and promote the character and role of Chichester as a cathedral city that functions as a sub-regional shopping centre, a location for local government, health and education, and the main driver of the District’s economy.

1. To protect the separate identity, individual character, vitality and viability, and role of the District’s urban and rural communities.

1. To maintain the character of rural villages and the countryside.

1. To pay special attention to the protection of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty/proposed South Downs National Park.

1. To recognise the continuing role that the private car will play in meeting transport and accessibility needs, whilst seeking to promote realistic alternatives including buses, cycling and walking.

1. To acknowledge the strategic role of the A27 road and rail corridor, and to give particular attention to promoting walking and cycling in Chichester City and its immediate surroundings.

1. To acknowledge the role that major road and rail facilities outside the District play in meeting the transport needs of communities, particularly in the north of the District.

1. To protect and enhance the District’s wildlife, and in particular its important habitats and the coast.

1. To raise awareness of, and promote accessibility to, the natural environment, and to pay particular attention to the needs of people with impaired mobility.

1. To guide changes in the built and natural environment in a way that reduces, and takes proper account of, climate change.

1. To protect the District’s developed and undeveloped coastline in a sustainable way whilst carefully considering the future of coastal towns and villages.

1. To avoid development at risk from flooding and make space for water.

1. To facilitate the effective recycling, composting and recovery of value from waste.

1. To promote the District as an attractive location for innovative businesses, and for employment that meets a wide variety of needs.

1. To provide and promote a range of leisure, recreation and cultural activities appropriate to our District’s diverse communities.

3.3Compliance with Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive.