SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

experience of assessing the plan’s impacts was established prior to the introduction of thedirective. However, several studies have highlighted the challenged position ofcomprehensive municipal plans, identifying the deficiency in revising the MCP every-fouryears which is required according to law and a widespread view that the MCP is not the mostsuitable tool for decision making in land use matters in the municipalities (Riksrevisionen2005, Kommunförbundet 2003). The introduction of SEA is therefore made to a context of achallenged planning system, where there is a growing interest in working on strategies andnon-statutory programmes that fall outside the context of the directive, rather than revisingthe municipal comprehensive plan. At the same time, substantial experience exists within thefield of environmental objectives that have been introduced at the national level anddeveloped further at the regional and local levels, as well as widespread permeation of theconcept of sustainability through LA21 and other political commitment.In the case of Iceland, the introduction of the SEA requirements coincides with theongoing revision of the Planning and Building Act no. 73/1997 that proposes some majorchanges to the planning system. In the context of land-use planning, statutory planning hasonly been required at the municipal level, as well as there has been some experience of thepreparation of voluntary regional plans. Among the proposed changes is the introduction ofplanning at the national level for spatial planning i.e. that will coordinate planning of differentsectors in a national development strategy (Skipulagsstofnun 2003). In recent years, somedevelopment work has been conducted for environmental assessment of sector plans, thatgoes hand-in-hand with the development of sector planning, e.g. within the transport sector.Hence, it can be argued that the application of SEA is introduced at an important time in thedevelopment of the Icelandic planning system; expanding planning practice and exploringnew fields for introducing a more formal planning process, of which there is limitedexperience in Iceland (Theodórsdóttir 2003, Thorgeirsson 2003). In most of the cases theenvironmental assessment has been conducted as a part of a comprehensive planning processwhich is the most established planning process and includes requirements on consultations,public participations etc as a part of the Planning and Building Act. Despite of this theintroduction of the directive will call for several changes in the legislation and regulation onmunicipal planning, including the preparation of environmental assessment report, decisionmaking,information on decision-making and monitoring (Skipulagsstofnun 2003). In sectorplanning there is limited experience of plans and programmes, although several changes haveoccurred in recent years with attempts to develop new planning tools, e.g. legislation requiringthe preparation of a transport programme and programmes on forestry (Landshlutabundinskógræktaráætlun ) and soil reclamation (Landgrædsluáætlun). Within those sectors there is ashorter history of consultation as a part of the planning process the introduction of thedirective will pose a larger challenge (Skipulagsstofnun 2003).In the case of England, the planning system has undergone a substantial revision in therecent years, stipulated by the introduction of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act in2004. Among the changes introduced were changes in the role of local plans; from legalbinding instruments to more strategic documents; setting out the development proposals inthe local authority and accompanied with a map presenting proposals for land use. A furtherfundamental change is the strengthening of the regional level as a level for strategic planning.With regard to the application of SEA, those changes mean that England is the only countryof those included in the study that will have effective tiering within the SEA system, i.e. thestrategies proposed at the regional level that have bearings on land use and developmentstrategies the municipal/local level, have already undergone a Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment process. The increased responsibility of local authorities for creating strategicpolicies as well as the emphasis given to developing spatial planning at the regional level,provide statutory instruments that are compatible with the objectives of the SEA directive,105