Sustainability Appraisal / Strategic Environmental
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Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit Merseyside LTP Support Unit 24 Hatton Garden Liverpool Merseyside L3 2AN Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Sustainability Appraisal Report April 2007 Mott MacDonald 2nd Floor Marshall Court Marshall Street Leeds West Yorkshire LS11 9YP +44(0)113 394 6700 +44(0)113 394 6701 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 1 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Sustainability Appraisal Report Issue and Revision Record Rev Date Originator Checker Approver Description A 05.04.07 N Levy K Leather E Thomas First Draft for Comment B 20.04.07 N Levy K Leather E Thomas Final Draft for Comment C 03.05.07 N Levy K Leather E Thomas Final Report for Issue This document has been prepared for the titled project or named part thereof and should not be relied upon or used for any other project without an independent check being carried out as to its suitability and prior written authority of Mott MacDonald being obtained. Mott MacDonald accepts no responsibility or liability for the consequence of this document being used for a purpose other than the purposes for which it was commissioned. Any person using or relying on the document for such other purpose agrees, and will by such use or reliance be taken to confirm his agreement to indemnify Mott MacDonald for all loss or damage resulting therefrom. Mott MacDonald accepts no responsibility or liability for this document to any party other than the person by whom it was commissioned. To the extent that this report is based on information supplied by other parties, Mott MacDonald accepts no liability for any loss or damage suffered by the client, whether contractual or tortious, stemming from any conclusions based on data supplied by parties other than Mott MacDonald and used by Mott MacDonald in preparing this report. 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 2 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit List of Contents Page Chapters and Appendices 1 Components that make up the Environmental Report 9 2 Non-Technical Summary 10 3 Introduction 16 3.1 Terms of Reference 16 3.2 Purpose of the SA Report 16 3.3 Likely Significant Effects of the Plan 16 3.4 Difference the Process has Made 17 4 SA/SEA Legislative Requirements and Approach 18 4.1 Sustainability Appraisal Legislative Requirements 18 4.2 Strategic Environmental Assessment Legislative Requirements 18 4.3 SA/SEA Project Team 18 4.4 Merseyside SPD for Transport SA/SEA Timetable 20 4.5 SA/SEA and Habitats Regulations Assessment Approach 21 4.6 Scoping Report Consultation Results 22 5 Merseyside SPD for Transport 33 5.1 Context and Background 33 5.2 Contents of SPD 34 5.3 SPD Objectives 34 6 Sustainability Objectives, Baseline and Context 35 6.1 Relationship with other Plans and Programmes 35 6.1.1 National Context 36 6.1.2 Regional Context 37 6.1.3 Local Context 38 6.1.4 Policy Implications for the Merseyside SPD 40 6.2 Baseline Conditions 40 6.2.1 Environmental 41 6.2.2 Socio-Economic 48 6.3 Sustainability Issues 53 6.3.1 Landscape Implications 53 6.3.2 Cultural Heritage Implications 53 6.3.3 Air Quality and Climate Change Implications 54 6.3.4 Noise Implications 54 6.3.5 Water Quality Implications 54 6.3.6 Ecology Implications 54 6.3.7 Socio-Economic Implications 55 6.3.8 Health Implications 55 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 3 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit 6.3.9 Housing Implications 55 6.3.10 Community and Quality of Life Implications 55 6.3.11 Sustainable Transport Implications 55 6.4 SA Framework 56 6.4.1 Developing SA/SEA Objectives 56 6.4.2 Developing SA/SEA Indicators 57 6.4.3 Compatibility of the SPD and SA/SEA Objectives 59 7 Appraisal of Strategic Options 61 7.1 Proposed Alternatives for the SPD 61 7.1.1 Option One – Business as Usual/Without SPD Option 61 7.1.2 Option Two – With SPD and without Air Quality Option 62 7.1.3 Option Three – With SPD and with added Air Quality Chapter Option 64 7.2 Appraisal of SPD Options 66 7.3 Trans-boundary and Cumulative Impacts 72 7.4 Summary of Appraisal Results 75 7.5 Mitigation Measures and Recommendations 75 8 Consulting on the Draft SPD and SA Report 77 9 Habitats Regulations Assessment 79 9.1 Habitats Regulations Assessment Requirements and Approach 79 9.2 Objective of the Habitats Regulations Assessment 79 9.3 Natura 2000 and Ramsar Sites 79 9.4 Habitats Regulations Assessment Consultation 80 9.5 Test of Likely Significance 80 9.6 Habitats Regulations Assessment Conclusions 85 10 Implementation and Monitoring 87 10.1 Links to Other Tiers of Plans, Programmes and the Project Level 87 10.2 Proposals for Monitoring 87 11 References 88 Appendix A Review of Relevant Plans and Programmes 89 Appendix B Alignment Matrix – Development of SA/SEA Objectives 108 Appendix C Baseline Trend Data and Monitoring Table 121 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 4 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit Glossary of Terms Appropriate Assessment (Habitats Regulations Assessment): An assessment required under the Habitats Directive where a plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site may give rise to significant effects upon a European or Internationally designated site of nature conservation importance. Baseline: A description of the present and future state of an area, in the absence of any plan, taking into account changes resulting from natural events and from other human activities. Consultation Body: An authority which because of its environmental responsibilities is likely to be concerned by the effects of implementing plans and programmes and must be consulted under the SEA Directive. The Consultation Bodies, designated in the SEA Regulations are the Countryside Agency and English Nature (now Natural England), English Heritage and the Environment Agency. Development Plan Document (DPD): A type of Local Development Document with statutory status. DPDs include the core strategy, development control policies and site-specific allocations. Environmental Report (ER): An Environmental Report is a key output of SEA, presenting information on the effects of the draft plan on which formal public consultation is carried out. Local Development Document (LDD): There are two types of Local Development Document: Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents. Local Development Framework (LDF): Sets out, in the form of a ‘portfolio’, the Local Development Documents which collectively deliver the spatial planning strategy for the area in question. The LDF also includes the Statement of Community Involvement, the Local Development Scheme and the Annual Monitoring Report. Indicator: A measure of variables over time, often used to measure achievement of objectives. Natura 2000: In May 1992 European Union governments adopted legislation designed to protect the most seriously threatened habitats and species across Europe. This legislation is called the Habitats Directive and complements the Birds Directive adopted in 1979. At the heart of both these Directives is the creation of a network of sites called Natura 2000. The Birds Directive requires the establishment of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds. The Habitats Directive similarly requires Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to be designated for other species, and for habitats. Together, SPAs and SACs make up the Natura 2000 series. Objective: A statement of what is intended, specifying the desired direction of change in trends. Scoping: The process of deciding the scope and level of detail of an SA, including the sustainability effects and options which need to be considered, the assessment methods to be used, and the structure and contents of the SA Report. SEA Directive: European Directive 2001/42/EC ‘on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment’. Transposed into UK law via The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004. 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 5 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit Strategic Environmental Assessment: Generic term used internationally to describe environmental assessment as applied to policies, plans and programmes. In this report, ‘SEA’ is used to refer to the type of environmental assessment required under the SEA Directive. Sustainability Appraisal: Generic term used to describe the form of assessment that considers social, environmental and economic effects, which fully incorporates the requirements of the SEA Directive. Sustainability Appraisal Report: Term used to describe a document required to be produced as part of the SA process to describe and appraise the likely significant effects on sustainability of implementing a plan, which also meets the requirement for the Environmental Report under the SEA Directive. Supplementary Planning Document: A Supplementary Planning Document is a Local Development Document that may cover a range of issues, thematic or site specific, and provides further detail of policies and proposals in a 'parent' Development Plan Document 232614 Merseyside SPD SA/SEA SA Report Page 6 of 137 Merseyside Supplementary Planning Document for Transport 'Ensuring Choice of Travel' Mott MacDonald Sustainability Appraisal Report Merseyside LTP Support Unit Abbreviations Acronyms and other abbreviations used in this report are listed below.