Local Development Frameworks place
a greater emphasis on the environment and sustainable
development. As a result, most LDF documents will be subject
to a Sustainability Appraisal and a Strategic Environmental
Assessment.
The main purpose of Sustainability Appraisal is to assess to
what extent policies and proposals contribute towards meeting
social, economic and environmental objectives and sustainable
development.
The Sustainability Appraisal process
There are five main stages to the Sustainability Appraisal
process which will be done for each relevant LDF plan and strategy.
Some LDF documents will be exempt from Sustainability Appraisal and
Strategic Environmental Assessment - these include the Statement of
Community Involvement, Local Development Scheme and Annual
Monitoring Reports.
The five stages are:
- Stage A - Setting the context and objectives,
establishing the baseline and deciding on the scope (the scoping
report).
- Stage B - Developing and refining options and
assessing effects.
- Stage C - Preparing the Sustainability
Appraisal report.
- Stage D - Consultation on the preferred
options plan and the Sustainability Appraisal Report.
- Stage E - Monitoring significant effects of
implementing the plan.
Sustainability criteria for site specific assessments
It is a statutory requirement for local authorities to
demonstrate how the process of Sustainability Appraisal (including
Strategic Environmental Appraisal), has been used to assess the
social, economic and environmental characteristics and impacts of
site specific allocation proposals and options.
In January 2006 we published how we initially intend to
carry out Sustainability Appraisal of proposed and submitted site
allocations in the Local Development Framework.
We consulted with the statutory environmental bodies, and will
use this initial
proposed sustainability criteria for site
specific assessments (new window PDF 77KB) to evaluate
and identify the opportunities and constraints expected from
identified sites. Wider public comment on this criteria and
methodology will be undertaken as part of the consultation on
the Site Specific Allocations document.
Follow this link for help with downloading and opening PDF files.
Scoping reports
In February 2006 we consulted the statutory environmental bodies
on the initial scoping report for the Core Strategy &
Development Control Policies document. You can view a
summary of comments received (new window PDF
14KB).
In June 2006 we published
a scoping report (new window PDF 689KB)
relating to the production of both the Core Strategy and
Development Control Policies and Site Specific Allocations
documents. You can view the
baseline data (new window PDF 824KB) which
underpinned the scoping document.
You can also view the
local strategies and plans (new window PDF
76KB) scoped to as part of the
process.