SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING
SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING
Screening (the determination ifthe plan or programme requiresan SEA)Scoping (the decision on scopeand level of detail of theassessment)Environmental report and draftplan or programmeDuring the preparation of plan orprogrammeAdopted plan or programme;statements and measuresconcerning monitoringConsultation bodiesConsultation whetherscreening is requiredConsultationConsultationTake account of opinionsexpressedInformation made availablePublicInformation made availableto the publicNoInformation made availableConsultationTake account of opinionsexpressedInformation made availableTABLE 6.2 CONSULTATION DURING THE FIVE MAIN STAGES OF THE SEA PROCESS (ADAPTED FROM FIG. 3, ODPM2005A)The statutory consultation bodies include the Countryside Agency, the Historic Buildings andMonuments Commission for England (English Heritage), English Nature and theEnvironmental Agency. As presented in the table above, the public shall be consulted on thedraft plan or programme and the environmental report, but is not mandatory to consult thepublic on the scope of the report. Information from screening requirements and statementregarding monitoring shall be made available to the public. It is furthermore listed in theSEA regulations that account shall be taken of the views expressed during the previous stagesduring the preparation of the plan or the programme. Member States likely to be affected bythe plan or programme shall be consulted on the contents of the environmental report andthe draft plan or programme and information regarding monitoring shall be made available tothe consulted Member States.6.3.4 The results from the assessment – relation to decision-making?According to the guidance on the SEA procedure (ODPM 2005a, Article 2) it shall beillustrated how the Environmental Report and the opinions assembled during consultationhave been taken into account in the final form of the plan or the programme adopted.Furthermore, the reasons for choosing the plan, in light of reasonable alternatives, shall beprovided. At the same time it is stressed that it is not the purpose of the SEA to decide thealterative to be chosen for the plan or programme, but it is the role of the decision-makerswho shall make the choice on the plan or programme to be adopted. The role of the SEA inthe instance is to provide information on the relative environmental performance ofalternative and hence, make the decision-making process more transparent.6.4 Preparation work for SEA application (guidelines, research studies etc)6.4.1 GuidelinesThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published guidance for planning authorities onapplying the SEA Directive to land use and spatial plans. The guidance, ‘Practical Guide tothe Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive’ has been developed jointly by the ODPM,the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department of theEnvironment in Northern Ireland. The guidance applies to all plans and programmes that fallwithin the scope of the directive. The Practical Guide refers to the Regulations, rather than to84
the Directive, only in connection with the following matters, i.e. defining responsibleauthorities, designing organisation to be consulted, setting time limits and arrangement forconsultation and information to the authorities and the public. Other guidance regarding theimplementation of SEA in England, as well as other parts of the UK, include ‘SEA andBiodiversity Guidance’ (English Nature et al 2004), SEA Good Practice Guidelines’(Environment Agency 2005), guidance on ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment and ClimateChange: Guidance for Practitioners' (Levett-Therivel Consultants et al 2004), and guidancefor strategic environmental assessment for transport plans and programmes: ‘StrategicEnvironmental Assessment – Core Guidance for Transport Plans and Programmes’ (DfT2005). In Scotland and Wales separate guidance on the SEA application has been preparedand published. Furthermore, the ODPM has published a guide on monitoring of localdevelopment frameworks (Local Development Framework Monitoring: A Good PracticeGuide. March 2005) which will need to be considered when developing monitoring for theSEA of development plans. 166.4.2 ResearchConsiderable research has been carried out in the UK on the application of SEA and relatedinstruments and UK-based authors have a high input to the international SEA literature(Fischer 2004). However, with regard to application of SEA in land use planning, moststudies focus on the application of Environmental or Sustainability appraisal, and casesdealing exclusively with the application of SEA (as defined in the EU directive or theproposed EU directive) have been thinner on the ground, some examples include Curran et al(1998), Russel (1999) and Therivel (1998). However some studies examining SEA applicationat the local authority level have been published since the introduction of the directive, e.g.Short et al (2004), Therivel and Walsh (2006).With regard to development research an extensive study conducted to support theeffective implementation of SEA was initiated and coordinated by the South West RegionalAssembly and certain local authorities in the region in collaboration. Phase 1 of the workinvestigated the availability of baseline data for SEA. Phase 2 included a review of the existingpractice of SEA and case studies on SEAs and sustainability appraisals for various plans andprogrammes in the region. The studies have resulted in two reports: ‘Implementing the SEADirective: Analysis of existing practice’ and ‘Implementing the SEA Directive: Five pilotstudies’. Some attempts have been made of carrying out integrated SEAs and SAs, prior tothe EC requirements. Those include: Rushmoor Borough Council's Local DevelopmentFramework (LDF), Dover and Sevenoaks councils' LDFs, East of England region's RegionalPlanning Guidance/RSS 14, West Sussex's Local Transport Plan and Tower Hamlets UDP.6.5 Pre-directive experience of SEA applicationPrior to the introduction of the EU directive 97/11/EC no legal requirements of SEAexisted. However, considerable experience has been assembled with so-called ‘SEA-typeassessment instruments’ in England as well as in other parts of the UK. Within the categoryof SEA-type assessment instruments a wide range of instruments have been applied andformally promoted at strategic decision-making levels (Levett-Therivel 2002). Whilst mostexperience has been accumulated in land use and transport planning, other sectors have alsoundertaken assessment that can be categorised as SEA related assessment. These includewaste and water management, energy and economic development planning, as well as16 The above publications were issued by the former department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister(ODPM). ODPM became Communities and Local Government on 5 May 2006.85
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Screening (the determination ifthe plan or programme requiresan <strong>SEA</strong>)Scoping (the decision on scopeand level of detail of theassessment)Environmental report and draftplan or programmeDuring the preparation of plan orprogrammeAdopted plan or programme;statements and measuresconcerning monitoringConsultation bodiesConsultation whetherscreening is requiredConsultationConsultationTake account of opinionsexpressedInformation made availablePublicInformation made availableto the publicNoInformation made availableConsultationTake account of opinionsexpressedInformation made availableTABLE 6.2 CONSULTATION DUR<strong>IN</strong>G <strong>THE</strong> FIVE MA<strong>IN</strong> STAGES <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>SEA</strong> PROCESS (ADAPTED FROM FIG. 3, ODPM2005A)The statutory consultation bodies include the Countryside Agency, the Historic Buildings andMonuments Commission for England (English Heritage), English Nature and theEnvironmental Agency. As presented in the table above, the public shall be consulted on thedraft plan or programme and the environmental report, but is not mandatory to consult thepublic on the scope of the report. Information from screening requirements and statementregarding monitoring shall be made available to the public. It is furthermore listed in the<strong>SEA</strong> regulations that account shall be taken of the views expressed during the previous stagesduring the preparation of the plan or the programme. Member States likely to be affected bythe plan or programme shall be consulted on the contents of the environmental report andthe draft plan or programme and information regarding monitoring shall be made available tothe consulted Member States.6.3.4 The results from the assessment – relation to decision-making?According to the guidance on the <strong>SEA</strong> procedure (ODPM 2005a, Article 2) it shall beillustrated how the Environmental Report and the opinions assembled during consultationhave been taken into account in the final form of the plan or the programme adopted.Furthermore, the reasons for choosing the plan, in light of reasonable alternatives, shall beprovided. At the same time it is stressed that it is not the purpose of the <strong>SEA</strong> to decide thealterative to be chosen for the plan or programme, but it is the role of the decision-makerswho shall make the choice on the plan or programme to be adopted. The role of the <strong>SEA</strong> inthe instance is to provide information on the relative environmental performance ofalternative and hence, make the decision-making process more transparent.6.4 Preparation work for <strong>SEA</strong> application (guidelines, research studies etc)6.4.1 GuidelinesThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published guidance for planning authorities onapplying the <strong>SEA</strong> Directive to land use and spatial plans. The guidance, ‘Practical Guide tothe Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive’ has been developed jointly by the ODPM,the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department of theEnvironment in Northern Ireland. The guidance applies to all plans and programmes that fallwithin the scope of the directive. The Practical Guide refers to the Regulations, rather than to84
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