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Environmental appraisals
Sustainability Appraisal (SA) / Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA)
Background
Under the requirements of the Planning
Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and
Planning Policy Statement 12 (PPS12) the council as
the Local Planning Authority must carry out a Sustainability
Appraisal (SA) of its Local Development Framework (LDF) to help
fulfil the aim of sustainable development.
A Sustainability Appraisal (pdf
6,657KB) is required under the Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) Directive and incorporate an assessment of the
economic and social impacts of development as well as environmental
issues.
Under the Conservation
of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, the Local
Planning Authority must ascertain the potential impact of any plan
that they propose will have on the conservation and integrity of
internationally designated sites, Special Protection Areas (SPA)
and Special Areas for Conservation (SAC). The Medway Estuary and
Marshes and the Thames Estuary and Marshes are both designated
SPAs. There is a SAC in the Medway Valley near Upper Halling. The
LDF therefore requires a Habitats Regulation
Assessment (pdf 2,011KB) to be carried out.
Process
These documents were produced following a process that evolved
alongside the preparation of the Core Strategy. This included
making the interim documents available for consultation. The final
versions of the SA and HRA were informed by the outcomes of a
consultation process held in Autumn 2011, alongside the Publication
draft.
For reference purposes, and to evidence the process followed in
the production of the HRA and SA, the interim versions are
available to view below:
At Publication Draft stage
Update
to Interim Sustainability Appraisal (incorporating SEA) August
2011 (pdf 231 KB)
HRA Screening
Report July 2011 (pdf 813KB).
At Pre-Publication Draft stage
The
Interim Sustainability Appraisal (pdf 3,891KB). This
provided an update of the details and an analysis of the proposed
policies. It then discussed how they would contribute to the SA
objectives set out in the framework. It also began
to detail how the monitoring system will work.
At Issues and Options stage
The Medway
Initial Sustainability Appraisal (pdf 2,254KB) looked at
and considered the five areas being considered to accommodate both
mineral and waste provision, as well as employment and housing
growth.
Scoping Report
The Sustainability
Appraisal scoping report for consultation (pdf
1,302KB) was produced outlining the scope and timetable for
the SA of the Medway LDF. This document included an outline of the
sustainability issues affecting the Medway administrative
area, drawn from a review of relevant documents and baseline
information. Using these, the SA framework, consisting of
objectives and suggested indicators, was formed.
Consultation at this stage allowed stakeholders to verify that
all relevant plans had been reviewed, that baseline data was the
most up-to-date and to ensure that all issues had been identified,
helping to ensure that the SA will be comprehensive and robust
during later stages. Consultation finished on 23 January 2009.
The representations received through the consultation period
were considered and where appropriate incorporated into
the Scoping report (Final
Version April 2009) (pdf 855KB).
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