SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

There amongst it shall be decided which planning proposals shall be assessed, whichenvironmental aspects will be studied, what environmental indicators shall be used to assessthe impacts and what information shall be gathered for the assessment. Furthermore, theproposed assessment shall be presented in a written report. The work carried out at this stageshall be conducted in cooperation with the Planning Agency.The assessment of the plan’s or programme’s environmental effects. At this stage the environmentalimpacts of the plan or programme will be assessed. The findings of the assessment arepresented for the public and public authorities, before the plan or the programme is adopted.Prior to the final presentation of the plans’ proposals, consideration shall be paid to theenvironmental assessment and the comments that have been received during the presentationand consultation of the plan and concern the plan’s or programme’s environmental effects.Decision making and adoption of the plan or programme. Prior to the final adoption of the plan or theprogramme, it shall be reported how the environmental assessment have been taken intoconsideration in the planning process. This information shall be presented for authorities andbe accessible for the public. Furthermore, the final step in the assessment process is themonitoring of the environmental effects deriving from the plan or programme. When the planor the programme has finally been adopted, a plan of the monitoring of the likelyconsiderable effects of the implementation of the plan or the programme on the environmentshall be presented. With regard the individual parts of the assessment process, principally thesame procedure applies as for the preparation process of the plan or the programme of whichthe environmental assessment forms a part. Below the main emphasis of each step accordingto the Act 105/2006 and the Planning Agency’s guidelines are presented.Below the individual steps are described in more detail:5.3.1 ScopingThe scoping stage of the assessment is listed in Article 10 of the Act 105/2006 whereindication is given of the norms and thresholds (viðmið) that shall be used when deciding ofthe scope, level of detail and contents of the environmental assessment. In the guidelines forthe conduction of the environmental assessment (Planning Agency 2007), the scope and themain emphasis of the environmental assessment shall be defined prior to the start of theassessment. This shall entail what parts of the plan the assessment shall entail, as well asalternatives that will be presented and assessed. The environmental aspects that will bestudied and that environmental indicators used to assess the environmental impacts and theadditional information that will be gathered as a part of the work shall also be described.In the Planning Agency’s guidelines (April 2007), it is recommended that the aspectslisted above shall be described in a scoping document (matslýsing). The description entailed inthe document shall give an account of the main policies and environmental aspects that areconsidered to be of greatest importance with regard to the assessment, and give an indicationof both the scope and the areas of main emphasis of the assessment, as well as the aspectsthat will be studied specifically. Consultation with state authorities, notably the PlanningAgency, shall take place at the start of the work, and the Planning Agency consults with othergovernmental actors before the Agency comments on the scope and the level of detail in theproposed assessment. The proponent is also encouraged to consult with the public at an earlystage of the work with the assessment.5.3.2 The Environmental ReportAccording to Article 6 of the act, the assessment of the plan or programme, i.e. both thebackground material on the environmental status as well as the findings, shall be presented inan environmental report. The report can be presented as a separate document, which is68