SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING
SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING
Information made available in the report to accompany the final plan or the programme:• How have environmental considerations been integrated with the plan or theprogramme?• How have the results of the environmental report been considered in the plan or theprogramme, e.g. by changes in the planning proposals presented?• How have comments received regarding the environmental impacts of the plan or theprogrammes, e.g. with changes in policies or changes on the results of the environmentalassessment?• Presentation of the arguments/reasoning for the final plan or programme with regard toenvironmental impacts and with regard to the alternatives that have been studied in theenvironmental assessment.Documentation to be made available after the adoption of the plan or the programme:• The final plan or the programme.• A report on how the environmental considerations have been integrated in the plan orthe programme and how considerations have been paid to the environmental report andthe comments received during the period of public consultation, as well as reasoning forthe choices presented in the final plan or programme, with regard to the alternatives thatwere studied.• The monitoring arrangements for following up considerable environmental impacts ofthe implementation of the plan or the programme.5.3.5 Mitigation measures and follow-upAccording to chapter 6 of the SEA Act, measures to prevent, reduce or mitigate considerablenegative environmental impacts of the plan or programme shall be presented in the plan.Furthermore, a monitoring plan shall be presented on how the monitoring of the impacts thatthe implementation of the plan or programme will have on the environment.5.4 Preparation work for SEA application (guidelines, research studies etc)Guidelines on the requirements on the assessment of comprehensive municipal and regionalplans were introduced in the Planning and Building Act 73/1997 started as early as 1998 andwere issued in 2003. The guidelines are included as a part of the overall guidelines on thepreparation of municipal plans which were published and prepared by the Planning Agency.The guidance on environmental assessment were developed in cooperation with aconsultancy team made up of two firms, Levett-Therivel Sustainability Consultants and theIcelandic planning consultancy firm Alta. In writing the guidance close consideration waspaid to the ongoing practice of municipal planning and on-going experiments withenvironmental assessment of municipal plans being carried out by local planning authoritiesand their consultants. Also, those working on municipal planning have followed thedevelopment of the guidance and taken account of available draft editions of the guidance intheir work (Theodórsdóttir 2004).In April 2007 the national Planning Agency issued general SEA guidelines on theimplementation of the legal stipulation or the directive that apply both to municipal andregional plans as well as to sector plans and programmes. A draft version had been availablesince late 2006. The guidelines built further upon the approach presented in the municipalplanning guidance. The guidelines were largely prepared by the planning consultancy firmAlta on behalf of the Planning Agency. The guidance focuses to a large degree on municipal70
physical planning and how environmental assessment can be become an integrated part inthis. The main steps addressed include; work programme, policy, environmental protectionand environmental assessment. According to the guidelines environmental assessment is aseparately identifiable in the planning process, not included in the environmental protectionsection that includes work on sustainable development and Agenda 21. However, regardingconsultation, the same process is followed in scoping consultation of the draft contents of themunicipal plans and the environmental report, as well as consultation of the draft planningproposal and the final planning proposal. Hence, the consultation and the public participationaspects are integrated part of and meets the same requirements as the existing requirementson the planning process.Research on the application of SEA has to a large extent been conducted under theauspices of the Planning Agency. Furthermore, several of those have been a part of Nordicconsortiums on the application of SEA e.g. a Nordic research project on the application ofSEA in physical planning and sector planning and the possibilities of SEA to lead to increaseenvironmental considerations in the formulation of policy and improved coordinationbetween the different sector plans and compatibility between different physical plans atdifferent levels (Jónsdóttir in Hildén et al 1998). In Lerstang et al (1999), the development ofmethodology and pilot studies on integrating SEA in regional planning in Iceland werepresented (Bjarnadóttir 1999) and the impeding legal introduction of SEA into the nationalframework was discussed in two Nordic cooperation projects led by Nordregio in 2003(Theodórsdóttir in Hilding-Rydevik 2003a and Theodórsdóttir and Elmarsdóttir in Hilding-Rydevik 2003b). Moreover, research is being conducted on behalf of Planning Agency on theintroduction of the SEA directive in Iceland and the development of a framework for SEA ofsector plans and coordination of spatial planning at the national level in Iceland. Someresearch has also been conducted with regard to SEA application in sectoral planning. Anexample of such initiatives is a preparatory study on the implementation of SEA into theNational Road Programme commissioned by the Public Road Administration and resulted ina research report and handbook (Vegagerdin 2002; 2004; 2005).5.5 Pre-directive experience of SEASeveral environmental assessments have been conducted for plans and programmes inIceland in recent years, with the earliest dating from 1989, though most of the examples wereconducted after the year 2000 and can be related to the environmental assessmentprovisions introduced in the Planning and Building Act of 1998. Most of the environmentalassessments have been conducted on land use planning proposals at the municipal level. Afew have also been carried out on regional land use plans and plans for infrastructureprojects. Two examples of the environmental assessment of sector plans at the national levelare an afforestation plan in Northern Iceland and a national framework programme for theutilization of hydro and geothermal energy resources (see example 1). The Act also coversother planning types that are being developed, such as sector planning and planning at theregional and national levels, of which there is limited experience in Iceland.In Hilding-Rydevik (ed) 2003, Theodórsdóttir and Elmarsdóttir give an overview of theexisting experiences of SEA application in planning at different levels in Iceland. The earliestexamples of SEA application date back to early 1990s (Plans for ‘Fossvogsdalur’ andEnvironmental Assessment for ‘Skútustaðahreppur’). Those assessments were carried out asindependent planning scenarios as a part of the decision-making for debated planning areas.According to Theodórsdóttir and Elmarsdóttir (2003) these assessments were done in a waythat closely resemble EIA process and were not carried out as a part of an existing statutoryplanning process.71
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Information made available in the report to accompany the final plan or the programme:• How have environmental considerations been integrated with the plan or theprogramme?• How have the results of the environmental report been considered in the plan or theprogramme, e.g. by changes in the planning proposals presented?• How have comments received regarding the environmental impacts of the plan or theprogrammes, e.g. with changes in policies or changes on the results of the environmentalassessment?• Presentation of the arguments/reasoning for the final plan or programme with regard toenvironmental impacts and with regard to the alternatives that have been studied in theenvironmental assessment.Documentation to be made available after the adoption of the plan or the programme:• The final plan or the programme.• A report on how the environmental considerations have been integrated in the plan orthe programme and how considerations have been paid to the environmental report andthe comments received during the period of public consultation, as well as reasoning forthe choices presented in the final plan or programme, with regard to the alternatives thatwere studied.• The monitoring arrangements for following up considerable environmental impacts ofthe implementation of the plan or the programme.5.3.5 Mitigation measures and follow-upAccording to chapter 6 of the <strong>SEA</strong> Act, measures to prevent, reduce or mitigate considerablenegative environmental impacts of the plan or programme shall be presented in the plan.Furthermore, a monitoring plan shall be presented on how the monitoring of the impacts thatthe implementation of the plan or programme will have on the environment.5.4 Preparation work for <strong>SEA</strong> application (guidelines, research studies etc)Guidelines on the requirements on the assessment of comprehensive municipal and regionalplans were introduced in the Planning and Building Act 73/1997 started as early as 1998 andwere issued in 2003. The guidelines are included as a part of the overall guidelines on thepreparation of municipal plans which were published and prepared by the Planning Agency.The guidance on environmental assessment were developed in cooperation with aconsultancy team made up of two firms, Levett-Therivel Sustainability Consultants and theIcelandic planning consultancy firm Alta. In writing the guidance close consideration waspaid to the ongoing practice of municipal planning and on-going experiments withenvironmental assessment of municipal plans being carried out by local planning authoritiesand their consultants. Also, those working on municipal planning have followed thedevelopment of the guidance and taken account of available draft editions of the guidance intheir work (Theodórsdóttir 2004).In April 2007 the national Planning Agency issued general <strong>SEA</strong> guidelines on theimplementation of the legal stipulation or the directive that apply both to municipal andregional plans as well as to sector plans and programmes. A draft version had been availablesince late 2006. The guidelines built further upon the approach presented in the municipalplanning guidance. The guidelines were largely prepared by the planning consultancy firmAlta on behalf of the Planning Agency. The guidance focuses to a large degree on municipal70
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