SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

assessment for the EU structural funds.Within the field of land use planning, SEA-type instruments include Environmental andSustainability Appraisals for land use development plans (including structure plans, local plansand unitary development plans), which was has been applied since the early 1990s. The legalrequirements were first introduced in the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 and Townand Country Planning (Development Plan) Regulations 1991 which resulted in GovernmentGuidance to local authorities to undertake environmental appraisal for their land usedevelopment plans. The requirements of conducting Sustainability Appraisals for RegionalPlanning Guidance (RPG), was introduced in 2000, as well as appropriate assessment foractivities that may have significant impact on areas falling under the EU Habitats Directive.Further information of the contents and discussion of the experience of SustainabilityAppraisal in relation to SEA is provided in chapter 6.6.Other instruments that include strategic assessment of environmental impact of policiesand plans include regulatory impact assessment, transport scheme appraisals which have beenapplied for over two decades and multi-modal studies for defined corridors and infrastructureimprovement areas that constitute a new approach to appraisal (Fischer 2005). Furthermore,SEA experience can be found in other sectors, includes SEA of the Strategic Defence Reviewby the Ministry of Defence in 2000; voluntary application of SEA by water companies onwater resource and water treatment plans and by the Environmental Agency to its nationaland regional water resource strategies, SEA of offshore oil and gas licensing by theDepartment of Trade and Industry and more recently to offshore wind farm licensing, andthe SEA of multimodal transport studies by the Highways Agency (Sheate et al 2005).6.6 The national planning framework6.6.1 An overview of the planning system according to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004The primary legislation for planning in England is the Town and Country Planning Act 1990,which was amended by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. With theintroduction of the Act in 2004 the land use planning system experience total changes withregard to both the responsibility at different planning levels and in terms of the planningdocumentation prepared. Furthermore, the 2004 Act includes a requirement of conductingSEA as a part of the process of Environmental Appraisal (section 6.2 on Local DevelopmentPlans, PCPA 2004). Among the changes resulting from the reform of the land-use planningsystem is the introduction of Local development frameworks which are the non-statutoryterm for the portfolio of local development documents; local development plan document,local development scheme, supplementary planning documents and a statement ofcommunity involvement, which will comprise the spatial planning strategy for a localplanning authority’s area. These documents, introduced as a result of the Planning andCompulsory Purchase Act 2004 and accompanying Regulations will be prepared by the localplanning authorities and will replace the existing system of local, structure, and unitarydevelopment plans. Furthermore changes have been introduced at a higher level; the countycouncils shall no longer prepare structure plans, but retain some strategic planning as theyshall continue to prepare minerals and waste plans. Instead, the regional planning bodies arenow responsible for the preparation of statutory regional spatial strategies, which guidedevelopment by establishing broad locations and criteria for development. According to aguide published by the ODPM in March 2005, ‘Local development frameworks provide scope for anapproach to spatial planning that is visionary, wide-ranging, participative and deliverable’. The newplanning framework includes a wider spatial planning approach, identifying a range ofdelivery mechanisms, instead of the previous land-use planning documents with developmentcontrol as the key implementation tool. Furthermore, the previous formal plans will be86