Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Vicar Street, Kilkenny
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT SCREENING REPORT FOR VICAR STREET IMPROVEMENT SCHEME AT VICAR STREET, KILKENNY, CO.KILKENNY March 2020 ON BEHALF OF KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL Enviroguide Consulting Vicar Street Improvement Scheme Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Vicar Street, Kilkenny DOCUMENT CONTROL SHEET Client Kilkenny County Council Project Title Vicar Street Improvement Scheme Document Title Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Revision Status Author(s) Reviewed Approved Issue Date Draft for Deborah D’Arcy Jim Dowdall 1.0 internal - 27/02/2020 Ecologist Director Review Draft for Deborah D’Arcy Jim Dowdall Jim Dowdall 2.0 04/03/2020 Client Ecologist Director Director Final Deborah D’Arcy Jim Dowdall Jim Dowdall 3.0 10/03/2020 Rev 1.0 Ecologist Director Director Deborah D’Arcy Jim Dowdall Jim Dowdall 4.0 Client Info 13/03/2020 Ecologist Director Director March 2020 Page i Enviroguide Consulting Vicar Street Improvement Scheme Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Vicar Street, Kilkenny TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ 3 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Legislative Context ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2.2 Stages of AA ...................................................................................................................................... 2 2 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 SCREENING STEPS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 DESK STUDY .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.3 FIELD SURVEYS ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3.1 Constraints ........................................................................................................................................ 4 2.4 ASSESSMENT OF IMPACTS ............................................................................................................................ 4 3 STAGE 1 SCREENING ................................................................................................................................ 5 3.1 MANAGEMENT OF NATURA 2000 SITES ......................................................................................................... 5 3.2 DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 5 3.2.1 Site location ...................................................................................................................................... 5 3.2.2 Brief Description of Development ..................................................................................................... 8 3.2.3 Construction methodology ................................................................................................................ 8 3.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................... 10 3.3.1 Habitats .......................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3.2 Invasive plant species...................................................................................................................... 11 3.3.3 Fauna .............................................................................................................................................. 11 3.3.4 Water quality .................................................................................................................................. 11 3.4 IDENTIFICATION OF RELEVANT NATURA 2000 SITES........................................................................................ 12 3.4.1 Description of the Natura 2000 sites .............................................................................................. 15 3.5 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.6 IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS ....................................................................................................... 17 3.7 ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS .......................................................................................................... 17 3.7.1 Habitat Loss and Alteration ............................................................................................................ 17 3.7.2 Habitat / Species Fragmentation .................................................................................................... 17 3.7.3 Disturbance and / or Displacement of Species ................................................................................ 18 3.7.4 Changes in Population Density ....................................................................................................... 18 3.7.5 Changes in Water Quality and Resource......................................................................................... 18 3.7.6 Spread of invasive plant species ..................................................................................................... 19 3.8 POTENTIAL FOR IN-COMBINATION EFFECTS ................................................................................................... 24 4 APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT SCREENING CONCLUSION ......................................................................... 25 5 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 26 APPENDIX I - SITE LAYOUT MAP ..................................................................................................................... 27 APPENDIX II NATURA 2000 NPWS SITE SYNOPSES ......................................................................................... 28 March 2020 Page ii Enviroguide Consulting Vicar Street Improvement Scheme Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Vicar Street, Kilkenny LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Notable records within 2km grid square S55D ....................................................................... 12 Table 2. Natura 2000 sites within the Zone of Influence ....................................................................... 13 Table 3. Identification of potential impacts on relevant Natura 2000 sites ........................................... 19 Table 4. Appropriate assessment screening of the potential effects on the feature of interests of the River Barrow and Nore SAC ................................................................................................................. 20 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The four stages of the Appropriate Assessment Process (DEHLG, 2010). ............................ 2 Figure 2. Site Location ............................................................................................................................ 6 Figure 3. Site Layout ............................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4. Natura 2000 Sites within 15km of Proposed Development ................................................... 14 March 2020 Page iii Enviroguide Consulting Vicar Street Improvement Scheme Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Vicar Street, Kilkenny 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Enviroguide Consulting were commissioned by Kilkenny County Council to carry out an Ap- propriate Assessment Screening Report in relation to the Vicar Street Improvement Scheme, in Kilkenny City. This report contains information to enable the competent authority (Kilkenny County Council) to undertake Stage 1 Appropriate Assessment screening in respect of the proposed works. 1.2 Legislative Background The Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) seeks to conserve natural habitats and wild fauna and flora by the designation of SACs and the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) seeks to protect birds of special importance by the designation of SPAs. It is the responsibility of each member state to designate SPAs and SACs, both of which will form part of Natura 2000, a network of pro- tected sites throughout the European Community. Member States are required to designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs) under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, respectively. SACs and SPAs are collectively known as Natura 2000 sites. An ‘Appropriate Assessment’ (AA) is a required assessment to determine