Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening)
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Appendix4 Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening) July 2018 Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council Mott MacDonald Victory House Trafalgar Place Brighton BN1 4FY United Kingdom T +44 (0)1273 365000 F +44 (0)1273 365100 mottmac.com Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council Gibson Building Tonbridge and Malling Gibson Drive 391898 2 B Kings Hill Borough TMBC HRA StageCouncil 1 Local Plan West Malling Mott MacDonald ME19 4LZ Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening) July 2018 Mott MacDonald Limited. Registered in England and Wales no. 1243967. Registered office: Mott MacDonald House, 8-10 Sydenham Road, Croydon CR0 2EE, Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council United Kingdom Mott MacDonald | Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening) Issue and Revision Record Revision Date Originator Checker Approver Description A May S. Arora C. Mills C. Mills Draft for comment 2018 J. Brookes B July S. Arora J. Brookes C. Mills Second issue 2018 Document reference: 391898 | 2 | B Information class: Standard This document is issued for the party which commissioned it and for specific purposes connected with the above- captioned project only. It should not be relied upon by any other party or used for any other purpose. We accept no responsibility for the consequences of this document being relied upon by any other party, or being used for any other purpose, or containing any error or omission which is due to an error or omission in data supplied to us by other parties. This document contains confidential information and proprietary intellectual property. It should not be shown to other parties without consent from us and from the party which commissioned it. This R eport has been prepar ed sol el y for use by the party which commissi oned it (the 'Client') in connection with the capti oned pr oject. 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By acceptance of this Repor t you agree to be bound by this disclai mer. T his disclai mer and any issues, disputes or cl ai ms arising out of or in connection with it ( whether contractual or non-contractual i n natur e such as cl ai ms i n tort, from br each of statute or regul ati on or otherwise) shall be governed by, and co nstr ued i n accordance with, the laws of Engl and and Wales to the exclusion of all conflict of l aws principles and r ules. All disputes or clai ms arising out of or r elati ng to this discl ai mer shall be subject to the exclusi ve jurisdicti on of the English and Welsh courts to which the parties irrevocabl y submit. 391898 | 2 | B | July 2018 TMBC HRA Stage 1 Mott MacDonald | Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening) Contents Executive summary 1 1 Introduction 4 2 Background 6 3 Baseline conditions 17 4 Assessment approach 24 5 Air quality impacts of new development 31 6 Options for minimising air quality impacts from new development 35 7 Conclusions 37 Appendices 38 A. Local Plan strategy phasing 39 B. Traffic data 41 C. Model verification 46 391898 | 2 | B | July 2018 TMBC HRA Stage 1 Mott MacDonald | Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan 1 Habitat Regulations Assessment: Stage 1 (Air Quality Screening) Executive summary Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council (TMBC) is in the process of preparing a new Local Plan with a time horizon of 2031. An assessment has been undertaken to provide an evidence base for air quality impacts of the TMBC Local Plan on sensitive designated habitats, in the context of the European Union Habitat Regulations. The assessment has considered whether the development of five proposed strategic development sites, in combination with planned growth in neighbouring authorities, would result in significant impacts on designated ecological sites during the lifetime of the emerging Local Plan up to 2031. The process of determining whether plans may adversely affect a designated site requires a formal assessment of the implications of any new plans or projects. This process is collectively described as the habitat regulations assessment (HRA). There are three HRA Stages: ● Stage 1. Likely significant effects (evidence gathering and screening) (the stage described in this document) ● Stage 2. Appropriate Assessment and ascertaining the effect on site integrity (necessary if there are found to be likely significant effects) ● Stage 3. Mitigation measures and alternative solutions (required when an option has been found to have adverse effects on the integrity of the site). The first stage within the HRA process consists of a screening exercise which identifies the likely significant effects from the plan or project on the designated sites and qualifying features. This document summarises the approach and outcomes of the stage 1 screening assessment under TMBC’s Local Plan HRA process. The focus of the assessment is on determining the air quality impacts of the proposed development through dispersion modelling. Results are interpreted by a qualified ecology specialist, in the context of the existing condition of the ecological sites under consideration, to determine whether significant effects are likely to occur or not. This report therefore primarily presents the methodology and results of the dispersion modelling exercise. Discussion of the ecology impacts is presented following interpretation of air quality results, to provide a conclusion on whether it is necessary to proceed to the next assessment stage (Appropriate Assessment), which naturally has a greater focus on the detailed ecological impacts. The assessment involved dispersion modelling of traffic impacts associated with the proposed TMBC Local Plan, in combination with other development in neighbouring authorities, at two special areas of conservation (SACs) within Tonbridge and Malling: ● Peter’s Pit SAC, designated for Triturus cristatus (Great crested newt) ● North Downs Woodland SAC, designated for yew-dominated woodland, beech forests on neutral to rich soils, and dry grasslands and scrublands on chalk or limestone. Growth scenarios in neighbouring districts, for example committed development and neighbouring authorities’ local plans, have been accounted for in the traffic data used within this assessment by using information from the Department for Transport (DfT) TEMPro database, which takes into account planned (ie draft) and adopted strategic development plans across districts to estimate projected numbers of jobs and households in future years. The traffic growth factors calculated in TEMPro therefore account for the cumulative impacts of growth both within TMBC and within neighbouring districts.