Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission Version)
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Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission Version) Consultation Analysis Report Prepared by LUC May 2018 Project Title: Consultation Analysis Report on the Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission Version) Client: Staffordshire Moorlands District Council Version Date Version Details Prepared by Checked by Approved by 1.0 16/05/2018 1st Draft Report Sarah Temple Philip Smith 2.0 23/05/2018 Final Report Sarah Temple Philip Smith Philip Smith Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission Version) Consultation Analysis Report Prepared by LUC May 2018 Planning & EIA LUC LONDON Offices also in: Land Use Consultants Ltd Registered in England Design 43 Chalton Street Bristol Registered number: 2549296 Landscape Planning London Edinburgh Registered Office: Landscape Management NW1 1JD Glasgow 43 Chalton Street Ecology T +44 (0)20 7383 5784 Lancaster London NW1 1JD GIS & Visualisation [email protected] Manchester FS 566056 EMS 566057 LUC uses 100% recycled paper Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Overview of the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation 3 Statement of Community Involvement 3 Publication of the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation 4 Level of response 5 3 Summary of the representations 6 Appendix 1 Summary of individual comments and responses Appendix 2 List of statutory consultees and other stakeholder organisations Tables Table 2.1: SCI requirements and how they have been met 3 Table 2.2: Questions asked on the SA Submission Version Report 5 Table 3.1: Summary of key issues raised by respondents 7 1 Introduction 1.1 The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Report, published alongside the Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan, is used to assess how the policies in the Local Plan perform against a set of 18 sustainability objectives. 1.2 The Sustainability Appraisal has been subject to four rounds of public consultation: • SA Scoping Report: 13th August– 26th September 2014 • Interim Sustainability Appraisal Report: 28th April – 13th June 2016 • Draft Sustainability Appraisal Report: 24th July – 15th September 2017 • Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version Report: 27th February – 11th April 2018 1.3 This Consultation Analysis Report focuses on the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation. The report provides: • An overview of the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation process (Chapter 2) • A summary of the representations received (Chapter 3) 1.4 Appendix 1 provides a summary of each comment received on the Report. Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal 2 May 2018 (Submission Version) 2 Overview of the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation 2.1 In accordance with the SEA Directive, the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Report was consulted on alongside the Staffordshire Moorlands’ Local Plan Submission Version. 2.2 In line with Regulation 13 of the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations) the consultation includes the statutory bodies Natural England, Historic England and the Environment Agency, alongside a wide range of other stakeholders and community organisations. Statement of Community Involvement 2.3 The Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was adopted in April 2016. It outlines who should be consulted at each stage of Local Plan production and the methods that will be used to ensure effective involvement. 2.4 The SCI notes that it is a statutory requirement that the Council undertakes a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) to assess the economic, environmental, and social effects of a plan from the outset of the preparation process to inform policy and allow decisions to be made that accord with sustainable development. The SA documents are also subject to consultation alongside the plan and inform changes at each stage in the plan production process. 2.5 For the Regulation 19 (Submission Version) stage of the Local Plan, Figure 4.1 on page 36 of the SCI lists the consultation requirements. The table below shows these requirements and explains how they have been met as part of the Submission Version consultation. Table 2.1: SCI requirements and how they have been met Type of SCI Requirements How they have been met Consultee Statutory Summary document, All of the statutory bodies are on the Council’s Local Bodies publication on online Plan Consultation Database so they were directly portal, direct notification, notified about publication of the Local Plan and response form, website. associated documents. The other requirements listed were all undertaken as part of the consultation. Parish / Summary document, All of the Parish and Town Councils are on the Town publication on online Council’s Local Plan Consultation Database so they Councils portal, media releases, were directly notified about publication of the paper based, direct Submission Version document. The other notification, response requirements listed were all undertaken as part of form. the consultation. Paper copies of the consultation material were available at all libraries and Council offices in the District. Progress on the Local Plan is a standing item at the Parish Assembly meeting (to which all Parish and Town Councils in the District are invited) and officers attend to give updates and answer queries. General Summary document, If they had previously commented or registered an Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission 3 May 2018 Version) Type of SCI Requirements How they have been met Consultee Public publication on online interest (and so they were on the Local Plan portal, media releases, database) they were sent an additional paper based, direct communication to notify them of the publication. A notification, response summary document was produced in order to help form, social media, people understand the proposals. The other website. requirements listed were all undertaken as part of the consultation. Press releases, the Council’s website and social media were also used to raise awareness of the consultation. Local Summary document, If they had previously commented or registered an Businesses publication on online interest (and so they were on the Local Plan portal, Moorlands database) they were sent an additional Together Partnership, communication to notify them of the media releases, paper publication. The Council attended a scheduled based, direct notification, meeting of the Moorlands Together Partnership to response form, social highlight the plan and invite representations. The media, website. other requirements listed were all undertaken as part of the consultation Hard to Same as general public Refer to ‘General Public’ section above. In addition Reach plus and availability of to this, large print versions of the full consultation Groups documents in alternative document and the summary consultation document formats. to be made available on request. Developer / Summary document, The Council’s Local Plan consultation database Landowner / publication on online includes a number of developers, landowners and Agent portal, media releases, agents who are active in the area so many were paper based, direct informed through this mechanism. All the other notification, response methods listed were also used to raise awareness of form, social media, the consultation. Meetings (where appropriate) have website been ongoing throughout the process. Publication of the Sustainability Appraisal Submission Version consultation Consultation period (six weeks from 27th February to 11th April 2018) 2.6 The Council ran the consultation process of the SA Report at the same time as the Submission Version Local Plan, for six weeks between 27th February and 11th April 2018. Consultation methods 2.7 Statutory consultees (Natural England, Historic England and the Environment Agency), stakeholders, community organisations and individuals were invited to answer 11 questions on the SA via the following methods: • Online comments via the consultation portal • Letter • Email Staffordshire Moorlands Sustainability Appraisal (Submission 4 May 2018 Version) Table 2.2: Questions asked on the SA Submission Version Report Question 1 Do you support the overall approach taken to the appraisal of options? Question 2 Have we correctly identified the main significant effects and potential mitigation measures? Question 3 Do you wish to make a comment on the appraisal of one or more Local Plan policy option(s)? Question 4 Do you wish to make a comment on the appraisal of one or more housing or employment requirement option(s)? Question 5 Do you wish to make a comment on the appraisal of one or more proposed development site option(s)? Question 6 Do you wish to make a comment on the appraisal of alternative development approaches for Cheadle? Question 7 Do you wish to make a comment on the appraisal of alternative development approaches for the Rural Areas? Question 8 Do you wish to make a comment on the monitoring proposals, in particular the sustainability effects to be monitored and the information to be collected, including by whom and when? Question 9 Do you wish to make any other comments about this SA Report? Question 10 Does this February 2018 SA Report, together with the SA Scoping Report, provide sufficient information to demonstrate that an appropriate SA has been carried out of the Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan? Question 11 Do you wish to make a comment on either or both of the supporting documents: the Habitats Regulations Assessment report of the