NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING


Do we need to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment?


The Government has said that:
“Not every Neighbourhood Plan will need an environmental assessment of the type produced for local plans and not every Neighbourhood Development Order will need an environmental impact assessment. This will entirely depend on whether what is proposed in the Neighbourhood Plan or Order is likely to have significant environmental effects. All neighbourhood forums and parish councils wanting to undertake neighbourhood planning should be in contact with their local authority including at the start of the exercise when the scope of the work is being discussed. The local authority will be able to advise the forum or parish council if they think the emerging Neighbourhood Plan will need to be subject to an assessment.
If an environmental assessment is found to be required, the gathering of evidence for it and its preparation can be integrated into the process of producing the Neighbourhood Plan and may not require the involvement of external consultants.”
(Department of Communities and Local Government – Frequently Asked Questions on Neighbourhood Planning)

Therefore, we strongly recommend you contact us once you are able to provide information that addresses the following areas:
  • How proposals in the plan/order might affect the environment, society or economy;
  • Will the plan propose a higher level of development than has been identified in the relevant Island Plan documents?
  • Will the plan lead to major (development) projects in the future?
  • Is the plan likely to affect nature conservation sites of EU importance?

Depending on the provision of this information, we can then carry out a screening exercise to determine whether or not your proposed neighbourhood plan or order will require a Strategic Environmental Assessment. Regardless of the determined requirement, you may decide to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal of your plan, which can be a useful tool in determining the most appropriate outcomes and a Sustainability Appraisal can be carried out incorporating the requirements of a Strategic Environmental Assessment. Independent guidance on carrying out a Sustainability Appraisal of a plan advises that:
“There is no harm in carrying out an SA where it is not legally required, but you can be legally challenged for not carrying out an SA where one is required. So in case of doubt, carry out the SA. You may want to do this anyway, simply because SA helps to make sure that your neighbourhood plan is as well thought-out and as sustainable as possible.”
(CABE’s Neighbourhood Planning Toolkits – ‘DIYSA’: Sustainability Appraisal (including strategic environmental assessment) of Neighbourhood Plans, August 2011, Levett-Therivel, URS, Scott-Wilson)

Carrying out a Sustainability Appraisal – The basics


Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report – What is it and what is required


The first stage in the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process involves establishing the scope of the SA, i.e. the issues it will concentrate on. This has clear parallels with the plan-making process where the aim is to identify the key issues for the area and focus the plan on addressing these. In order to identify the issues for both the plan and the SA it is necessary to first establish an evidence base.

The Scoping Report documents the first main stage (Stage A) of the Sustainability Appraisal (incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment) process for the relevant plan. The specific tasks to be carried out at this stage are:

A1: Identifying other relevant policies, plans and programmes, and sustainability objectives
A2: Collecting baseline information
A3: Identifying sustainability issues and problems
A4: Developing the SA framework
A5: Consulting on the scope of the SA

The Stages of a Sustainability Appraisal


Scoping is the first of five stages of the SA process, that should be carried out concurrently with, be informed by and inform the neighbourhood plan in an iterative manner. The stages of SA, including Scoping are summarised below:

Stage A: Setting the context, establishing baseline and deciding on scope (including producing a Scoping Report)
Stage B: Developing and refining options and assessing effects
Stage C: Preparing the SA Report
Stage D: Consulting on the plan and SA Report
Stage E: Monitoring the significant effects of implementing the plan

For full details of each stage please see the suggested sources of information below.

The level of detail of an SA


An SA need not be done in any more detail, or using more resources, than is useful for its purpose. The SA should focus on the significant sustainability effects of the plan, and consider alternatives that take into account the objectives and geographical scope of the document.

Article 5 of the SEA Directive lists some factors to be considered in deciding what information to include in the Environmental Report, which are equally valid for an SA Report:
  • information that may reasonably be required, taking into account current knowledge and methods of assessment;
  • the contents and level of detail of the plan;
  • the objectives and geographical scope of the plan;
  • the stage reached in the decision making process; and
  • the extent to which it would be more appropriate to assess certain matters elsewhere in the decision-making process.

Useful information to assist the SA process


Please follow the links to these documents but we would also strongly encourage you to look at the SA work (including both Scoping and SA Reports) that accompanies the Core Strategy. This should provide a useful start point in terms of identifying potential issues, baseline information, other relevant policies, plans, programmes and sustainable development objectives and potential consultees. It can also help in developing the SA framework prior to consultation on the Scoping Report.

All the environmental assessment work (including SA) can be found in the Island Plan Core Document Library here. The SA documents can be found under section FA Environmental Assessment.



Page last updated on: 18/04/2012