SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

and more broadly a part of the SEA ideology of improving strategic decision making.However, these changes have created a degree of tumult in local authority planning practicesand the role of SA and SEA are dependant upon the wider question of how environmentalpolicies and sustainability will be dealt with in the revised planning system.7.5 The expectations towards the introduction of SEA nationallyEstablishing the expectations towards the transposition of the EU directive 2001/42/EC tothe national legal framework is not clear-cut. The expectations may differ between thedifferent actors within the institutional system; between the national authorities, the plannersat different governmental levels, politicians and the legislators. The expectations can beexplicitly expressed in legislation, regulations and guidelines, or can be implicitly interpretedfrom those documents as well as official discussions leading to the legal introduction.In Sweden the main regulations on procedures and documents are given by theEnvironmental Code, but will be supplemented with specific regulations in the separatesector legislations and for spatial planning. The aims of the Swedish environmentalassessment process are incorporated in the overall objectives of the Environmental Code andare centred on the promotion of sustainable development and ‘healthy and soundenvironment’. The more specific purpose of the Environmental Assessment process isillustrated in chapter 6, which is to integrate environmental aspects in the plan or programmein order to promote sustainable development. Looking at the work carried out in relation tothe implementation of the directive into Swedish legislation, in the form of interim reportsfrom the committee set up for the revision of the Planning and Building Act that waslaunched in 2002 that the requirements of the directive shall be fulfilled. However theimplementation shall be integrated as far as possible to the existing framework and withminimum disruption and shall not exceed the directive’s minimum requirements.In Iceland the expectation of the directive as being an important tool in modernising theplanning system and contributing to the development of a new planning culture have beenexpressed by leading figures in the national planning administration. At a NordicEnvironmental Assessment conference in Reykjavík in 2003, an official at the Ministry of theEnvironment stressed the evolving legal context to which the SEA directive will beintroduced in Iceland, as well as the limited use of plans and programmes as policy tools. Thisview is also expressed by the director of the national Planning Agency, who attaches highexpectations to the implementation of the directive as a support for the modernization of theplanning system (Thors 2004). When the new act on environmental assessment of plans andprogrammes was presented for the Icelandic parliament in 2004, the chairman of theenvironmental committee stressed the importance of recognising the differences between thenew act of strategic environmental assessment and the existing legislation on environmentalimpact assessment of projects. He states “It is not the intention to lead to duplicate the work inconnection to EIA, nor to complicate administration or to make development difficult. On the contrary, thecommittee hopes that by considering in a systematic way the effects of development, the need for work and costswill be reduced at later stages. […] First and foremost the aims of the bill are that environmental viewpointswill be considered as early in the process as possible”. (Thórdarson 2005) 21 . The general findings ofthe environmental committee also stressed the importance of separating the EIA and SEAprocesses, as well as the importance of ensuring the public’s access to the informationpresented in the assessment report. In this respect, the importance of presenting theinformation in an easily understandable way is particularly stressed, as well as the opportunityfor other organisations and institutions to submit comments. In a report discussing the21 English translation: Hólmfrídur Bjarnadóttir106