SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

4.5 Pre-directive experience of SEA applicationPrior to the transposition of the EU directive to Swedish legislation, legal demands on impactassessment for municipal comprehensive plans were included in the PBA. The requirementson impact assessment were introduced by revision introduced by SFS 1995:1197 and cameinto effect in 1996. Hence, substantial experience of application of environmental assessmenthad been assembled prior to the introduction of the directive. However, the requirements onimpact assessment differ in great detail from the EU directive. Below the legal requirementsand experience of the application of impact assessment at the municipal level are described.4.5.1 Legal requirementsA legal requirements for impact assessment as part of comprehensive municipal planning(översiktsplanering) was introduced into the Planning and Building Act (PBA) in 1996. Thedemands in the PBA are summarised in the following sentence from the legal text:“The substance and the consequences of the comprehensive plan shall be easily understood” (SFS1995:1197, 4:1.3). Chapter 4, Section 1, bullet-point 3.The impact assessment requirements stipulate that the impacts of the comprehensive plan onthe environment, as well as the social and economic aspects must be clearly stated in theplanning documents. These aspects also include human health and safety, cultural heritageand the management of natural resources. In addition, the impact assessment shall be anexplicit part of the consultation process. Since there are no mandatory national or regionalplanning levels in Sweden, the requirement for impact assessment in the PBA applies to thepreparation of municipal comprehensive plans but not a higher, more strategic level indecision making on comprehensive planning (Emmelin and Lerman, 2005). Apart fromplans stipulated by the PBA, environmental assessments have been carried out for sectorplanning, most notable in the infrastructure sector which contains much planning andprogramming at the national, regional and local levels. SEA is required as one of the firststeps in the EIA procedure of the Swedish Road Act and the Swedish Railroad Act and anattempt at policy SEA in national transport policy making (SOU 1997:35) is an ambitiousexample of applying SEA at strategic, national level (Emmelin and Lerman, 2005:179).Compared to the directive those requirements lack however with regard to scoping,presentation of alternatives and consultation.4.5.2 Application of impact assessment at the municipal levelPrior to the requirements of Impact Assessment in the Planning and Building Act in 1996, anumber of municipalities developed and carried out voluntary environmental assessments(Asplund and Hilding-Rydevik 1996a). After the requirements on impact assessment wereintroduced to the Planning and Building Act 1987:10 in 1996, numerous impact assessmentshave been carried out. The requirements have established a practice that potentially forms thebasis for the implementation of SEA at the municipal level. However, the requirements in thePBA are not very specific regarding the type of impacts studied, the methodology or howthese are reported or integrated to the planning process apart from a requirement that adescription of impacts shall be included in the consultation process and the presentation ofthe plan (SFS 1987:10). Regarding the actual results of the assessment, the studies of theactual achievements of SEA application are limited, and evaluation show that thedevelopment and application of SEA in spatial planning and in comprehensive planning havethus-far occurred in only a small number of municipalities (Bjarnadóttir and Åkerskog 2003)while experience of EA in municipal spatial planning occurs mostly at the detailed level(Emmelin and Lerman 2005). These initiatives can best be understood to illustrate the needfor, and interest in, impact assessment at the municipal level, and the National Board for52