SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

In this research the introduction of the SEA directive into the national framework isstudied in three different national planning contexts. In the thesis an overview is given ofhow the directive is transposed to the national legal system, as well as the existing planningframework is described. The purpose of the national overviews is to contribute to acomparative analysis of the relation between certain aspects of the national planning contextsand the legal introduction of the SEA directive. These results from the national studies areanalysed with regards to the contents of the EU directive 2001/42/EC and the internationaland Nordic academic discourse regarding the purpose and role of SEA, related to thecharacteristics of the planning system.1.1 BackgroundThe topic of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is of current interest to governmentofficials, practitioners and politicians who deal with spatial planning and environmentalmanagement at national, regional and local levels. The introduction of the EU directive2001/42/EC laid new demands on the planning process with the SEA requirements, as wellas on the contents of plans and programmes.The introduction of these requirements means that the countries need to make legaladjustments to implement the directive; the directive must be implemented at the differentoperational planning levels. Since the directive is a framework directive, it provides minimalguidance regarding its implementation, and it is up to the individual countries to fulfil itsrequirements. Thus, many questions regarding its implementation need to be solved, both bythe national legal bodies, as well as those responsible for the actual implementation in practiceat different administrative levels. Furthermore, the application of SEA-type instruments hasbeen practiced in several European countries prior to the introduction of the directive, andexperience has been gathered for different types of plans and policies at national, regional andmunicipal levels. A variety of different definitions of SEA exist, e.g. regarding the aims ofSEA, how SEA shall be introduced to the existing planning system and finally, what theimplementation of SEA means in practice for planning and decision-making.The directive is an example of a supra-national instrument that needs to be applied fromtop-down to an already existing national practice of environmental assessment, and needs tobe integrated into each country’s national planning system and planning practice. There isthus a strong practical and policy relevance of the subject. The research is a part of theresearch programme ‘Tools for Environmental Assessment in Strategic Decision Making’,‘MiSt’, which is funded by Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.1.2 The purpose of the research and questions addressedThe key proposition for the research is that the way that a common European directive isinterpreted and transposed to different national contexts differs substantially between thedifferent European countries. It is assumed that the demand for and the expectations towardsSEA as a tool for promoting environmental integration and sustainable development differdepending on the national context, in particular with regard to the planning system.Moreover, there appears to be a divergence between the expectations expressed in someacademic literature on SEA to what changes the environmental assessment of plans andprogrammes can bring about; e.g. improving decision-making, ensuring consideration ofsustainable development on the agenda and integrating environmental considerations intoplanning processes, and the requirements included in the EU directive 2001/42/EC (Binaand Wellington 2005).10