Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 1 Introduction 3 2 Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal of Local 6 Plan Documents 3 Review of Relevant Plans, Programmes and Environmental Objectives 9 4 The Sustainability Baseline Data 11 5 Key Sustainability Issues and problems 30 6 The SA Framework 34 7 The Appraisal Process 37 8 Next Steps 39 Appendix Appendix 1 Compliance with SEA Directive 41 Appendix 2 Stage A1: Relationship with other Plans, Policies and Programmes 43 Appendix 3 Stage A2: District Wide Baseline Data 157 Appendix 4 Stage A3: Sustainability Issues and Problems 183 Appendix 5 Stage A4: Development of SA Objectives 189 Appendix 6 Sustainability Appraisal Framework 192 Appendix 7 Compatibility of Objectives 198 Appendix 8 Consultation 200 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 1 Introduction Purpose of the Scoping Report 1.1 Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and Localism Act 2011, Breckland Council is required to prepare a Local Plan, which will ultimately supersede the adopted Core Strategy and Development and Control Policies Development Plan Document (2009), Sites Specific Policies and Proposals Development Plan Document (2012) and the Thetford Area Action Plan Development Plan Document (2012). This report comprises the first stage of the Sustainability Appraisal for the Breckland District Local Plan. It sets out the scope for the SA, including the matrix of sustainability objectives that will be used in the assessment of future Local Plan Policies and Proposals. 1.2 This Scoping Report has been prepared as part of the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the emerging Breckland Local Plan. 1.3 The purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report is to: Identify the sustainability objectives of other relevant plans, programmes, policies and strategies. Collect and collate baseline information and establish a profile of the environmental, social and economic characteristics of Breckland District. Identify sustainability issues and problems within Breckland. Develop the sustainability appraisal framework which will be used to test policy and allocation options in the plan. Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment 1.4 The process of plan making has always relied on the choices between different options for the development and use of land through the planning system. The requirement to produce a Sustainability Appraisal Report for the emerging Local Plan is a legal requirement under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) which seeks to ensure that the decision-making process takes into account the key objectives of sustainable development. These are: Social progress which meets the needs of everyone; Effective protection of the environment; Prudent use of natural resources; and Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment. 1.5 Sustainability Appraisal (SA) is a process undertaken during the preparation of a plan, programme or strategy. The role of the SA is to assess the extent to which the emerging policies and proposals will help to achieve relevant environmental, social and economic objectives and aims to ensure that sustainable development is at the heart of the plan-making process. The Act stipulates that the SA must comply with the requirements of the SEA Directive (1) which was transposed directly in to UK law through the SEA Regulations(2). 1.6 The overall aim of the SA process is to help ensure that the Breckland District Council's (BDC) Local Plan and subsequent Development Plan Documents (DPD's) make an effective contribution to the pursuit of sustainable development. The most widely used definition of sustainable development is: 1 Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, June 2001. 2 S.I. 2004 No. 1633: The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations, 2004. 3 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (3) Relationship to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) 1.7 An SEA is a systemic process for evaluating the environmental consequences of plans and programmes to ensure that environmental issues are integrated and assessed at the earliest opportunity in the decision-making process. Article 1 of the SEA European Directive 2001/42/EC states that the aim is to: ‘provide for a high level of protection of the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes with a view to promoting sustainable development’. At the same time, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of all emerging Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs). As the guidance explaining this requirement makes clear, SA and SEA are a similar, yet distinct process involving a number of explicit steps. The differences between these processes lie in the fact that SEA focuses solely on environmental effects whereas SA is concerned with the full range of environmental, social and economic considerations. 1.8 It is possible to combine the processes of SEA and SA, as they share a number of similarities. Guidance 3(4)published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) promotes a combined process (i.e. a process which assesses social, economic and environmental effects) and this is the approach that will be adopted for the emerging Local Plan. Whilst there are formalised approaches for both SA and SEA, only SEA has a legal obligation to perform certain activities. These legal obligations have been and will continue to be adhered to throughout the combined SA and SEA for the Local Plan. The combined SEA and SA is referred to as SA throughout the remaining sections of this Scoping Report. Structure of the Scoping Report 1.9 This Scoping Report sets the framework and approach for the SA process and explains how it will be undertaken for the Local Plan. Subsequent sections of this report provide information about the proposed methods and provide background information about the existing conditions within Breckland District boundary. Section 2 outlines the SA process. Section 3 and Appendix 2 provide information about the review of other relevant plans and programmes. Section 4 and Appendix 3 presents data about existing baseline conditions across the District. Section 5 and Appendix 4 present sustainability issues and problems arising form the baseline data and section 6 presents the SA Framework. Consultation 1.10 Consultation is important because it allows stakeholders to verify that all of the relevant plans, policies and programmes have been reviewed, to check that the most up-to-date baseline information has been included and to ensure the key sustainability issues have been identified. This Scoping Report will be consulted upon in accordance with the requirements of regulations 12 (5) of the SEA Regulations(5). The Scoping Report will be subject to consultation with statutory bodies (Natural England, Environment Agency & English Heritage) as set out in the SEA Regulations and other stakeholders as identified in the draft Statement of Community Involvement (2013). 3 World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987. 4 http://www.pas.gov.uk. 5 The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes 2004. 4 Breckland Local Plan Scoping Report 2013 Habitats Regulations 1.11 European Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna the (‘Habitats Directive’) requires that any plan or programme likely to have a significant impact upon a Natura 2000 site (Special Area of Conservation (SAC), candidate Special Areas of Conservation (cSAC), Special Protection Area (SPA), potential Special Protection Area (pSPA) and Ramsar site), which is not directly concerned with the management of the site for nature conservation, must be subject to an Appropriate Assessment. The overarching process is referred to as Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA). 1.12 A draft HRA Scoping Report will be prepared and this will be consulted upon during the scoping consultation for the SA. A HRA screening exercise will commence when the options are developed for the Local Plan to determine whether the Local Plan (either in isolation and/or in combination with other plans or projects) would generate an adverse impact upon the integrity of a Natura 2000 site, in terms of its conservation objectives and qualifying interests. This process will be documented in a Screening Report that will be submitted to Natural England. At this stage in the Local Plan’s development evidence gathering for the HRA Screening Report has commenced and liaison will occur with Natural England during the process. If the Screening Report identifies that significant effects are likely then the Local Plan must be subject to Appropriate Assessment. 1.13 The compliance with SEA Directive is provided within Appendix 1. Relationship to previous Sustainability Appraisal Work 1.14 This version of the SA Scoping Report utilises previous sustainability work undertaken through the Core Strategy and the Sites Specifics DPD’s. Having examined these documents, it was considered that the Sustainability Objectives are broadly