SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

Environmental assessment has been included to some degree on most municipal andregional plans approved after January 1998 when the Planning and Building Act came intoeffect. The more recent examples, especially in relation to the assessment carried out formunicipal and regional plans, fulfil in principle the requirements of the EU directive97/11/EC. In the more recent examples, little or any baseline information is gatheredespecially for the assessment, and the impacts are appraised against selected objectives orcriteria (selected in each case) and the process follows closely the planning process asstipulated by the Planning and Building Act.5.6 The national planning frameworkAn overview of the national planning system5.6.1 Legal basisThe Icelandic planning system is stipulated by the Planning and Building Act 73/1997 andthe Planning Regulation 400/1998 (with changes 410/2002 and 47/2001). The Planning andBuilding Act is current under revision. Among the changes in the current proposal include alegal separation of the planning and building processes and a new emphasis on planning atthe national level and on sector planning. The first Icelandic planning Act dates from 1921and dealt with planning of ‘built-up areas’. According to the Act all municipalities should havecomprehensive municipal plans, but in 2000 many of those plans dated back to the 1980s,and even 1970s without having been revised (Theodόrsdόttir 2000). Following the firstPlanning Act of 1921 and the revision from 1964, in 1998 a totally renewed Planning andBuilding Act entered into force. This Act 73/1997 introduced two main changes to theplanning regulations: Firstly, the whole country became subject to planning control, not onlybuilt-up areas. Secondly, the responsibility for planning issues was formally moved fromnational level to the local authorities.At the early stages of the transposition of the SEA directive to Icelandic legislation, theSEA requirements were proposed to be an integrated part of the new Planning Act. Later onit was decided that SEA should be presented in a separate SEA Act. However, the linkageswith the planning system, as well as the planning legislation are strong, and the revision of thePlanning and Building Act 73/1997 is of prime importance for the implementation of SEA.5.6.2 Recent and proposed changes in the planning legislationCurrent proposals include a legal separation of the planning and building processes and a newemphasis on planning at the national level and on sector planning. The current Planning andBuilding Act 73/1997 came into force on January 1998. Among the changes introduced inthe Act were that main responsibility for land use planning moved from the state to themunicipalities. Furthermore, the call for the integration of environmental issues in planningwas given a legal basis in the Icelandic Planning and Building Act, as well as the promotion ofsustainable development that is among the overriding goals of the act.Main actorsThe municipalities hold the main responsibility for land use planning, while the responsibilityfor coordination, support and advice is placed at the national level with the Planning Agency.The Ministry of the Environment is responsible for physical planning in cooperation with thePlanning Agency which shall assist and guide municipalities in their planning work. Themunicipalities are responsible for the compulsory preparation of municipal and local(detailed) plans. The regional planning committees are responsible for the regional planningwhich are voluntary but encouraged in the Planning and Building Act no. 73/1997. Themunicipalities adopt the local, municipal and regional plans, but the municipal and regional72