Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Area and Supporting Strategy Assessment
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Connecting Oxfordshire: Local Transport Plan (LTP) 4: Appendix F Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Area and Supporting Strategy Assessment Prepared for Oxfordshire County Council July 2015 Burderop Park Swindon Wiltshire SN4 0QD Contents Section Page 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Area and Supporting Strategies........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Assessment Criteria ............................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Assessment Approach and Limitations ............................................................................... 3 2 Assessment of ‘Without LTP4’ Scenario and LTP4 Area Transport Strategies ......................... 3 2.1 ‘Without LTP4’ Scenario ...................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Oxford Transport Strategy (OTS) ......................................................................................... 9 2.3 Science Vale: Preferred Area Strategy .............................................................................. 22 2.4 Bicester: Preferred Area Strategy...................................................................................... 37 2.5 Banbury: Preferred Area Strategy ..................................................................................... 49 2.6 Witney: Preferred Area Strategy ....................................................................................... 62 2.7 Carterton: Preferred Area Strategy ................................................................................... 73 2.8 Science Transit: Supporting Strategy................................................................................. 81 2.9 Bus Strategy ....................................................................................................................... 87 2.10 Rail Strategy ....................................................................................................................... 93 2.11 Cycling Strategy ................................................................................................................. 99 2.12 Freight Strategy ............................................................................................................... 105 2.13 A420 Strategy .................................................................................................................. 115 2.14 Highways Asset Management Plan (HAMP) 2014 - 2019................................................ 123 Tables 1-1 SEA Objectives and Assessment Criteria 2-1 Assessment criteria for scoring LTP4 objectives and policies 2-2 Compatibility Assessment Matrix between SEA and LTP4 Objectives 2-3 Potential LTP4 Objective Compatibility Assessment and Recommendations 2-4 Compatibility Assessment Matrix between SEA and LTP4 Policies 2-5 Policy and SEA Objective Compatibility Assessment and Recommendations ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ANC/APPENDIX F AREA ASSESSMENT REPORT III COPYRIGHT 2015 BY CH2M HILL, INC. • COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL Connecting Oxfordshire LTP4 SEA: Environmental Report 1 Introduction 1.1 Area and Supporting Strategies Area Strategies have been developed by Oxfordshire County Council as part of ‘Connecting Oxfordshire’; their new Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4), for those parts of the county that are due to experience significant housing and/or employment growth. The Area Strategies describe how these different localities or key centres to Oxfordshire, will meet local transport needs in the county. These Area Strategies comprise: - Oxford Transport Science Vale (an area encompassing Wantage and Grove, Abingdon, Didcot, Culham Science Centre, Milton Park and Harwell Oxford Campus) Bicester Banbury Witney Carterton The other strategies supporting the LTP4 are: - Science Transit Strategy Bus Strategy Rail Strategy Cycling Strategy Freight Strategy A420 Strategy Highways Asset Management Plan This appendix has been prepared to present the environmental assessment of the revised LTP4 Area Strategies, which replace the respective earlier area strategies, and the supporting strategies that also form part of ‘Connecting Oxfordshire: LTP4. This appendix will describe the likely effects on the environment of the ‘without LTP4 scenario’, the LTP4 Area Strategies and supporting strategies. Together with the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Environmental Report, this appendix will present the SEA process so that the consultees, including statutory stakeholder and the general public, understand the strategic environmental issues in relation to the LTP4. 1.2 Assessment Criteria Table 1.1 presents the assessment criteria for scoring the LTP4 Area Strategies. A key to the assessment is also provided in this section. Table 1.1: Assessment criteria for scoring LTP4 objectives and policies ANC/APPENDIX F AREA ASSESSMENT REPORT 1 COPYRIGHT 2015 BY CH2M HILL, INC. • COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL ++ The option would be significantly beneficial to the SEA objective by resolving an Major existing environmental issue and/ or maximising opportunities for environmental Positive enhancement. + The option would be partially beneficial to the SEA objective by contributing to resolving an existing environmental issue and/or offering opportunity for some environmental Minor enhancement. Positive This effect would not be considered to be of significance. N The option would have a neutral effect on the SEA objective. Neutral ? There is insufficient detail available on the option or the baseline situation in order to Uncertain assess how significantly the SEA objective would be affected by the option. x The option would partly undermine the SEA objective by contributing to an environmental problem and/or partially undermine opportunities for environmental Minor enhancement. Negative This effect would not be considered to be of significance. xx The option would severely undermine the SEA objective by contributing to an environmental problem and/ or undermining opportunities for environmental Major enhancement. Negative This would be considered to be a significant effect. Nature: whether they are anticipated to be: Positive (+) Neutral (N) Negative (X) or Uncertain (?) Timescale: the timescale over which environmental effects are anticipated to arise: 2015 – 2020: effects expected up until 2020 (i.e. in the short-term). 2021 - 2031: effects expected from 2020 to 2031 (i.e. in the medium-term). Beyond 2031: effects expected beyond the timescale of the plan (i.e. in the long- term). Reversibility: A reversible effect (R) is an environmental effect that can be reversed, for example an incident of water pollution can be cleaned up over time. An irreversible effect (I) is an environmental effect that cannot be reversed such as the loss of a historic feature or the loss of agricultural soil due to permanent development. Spatial Scale: 2 Connecting Oxfordshire LTP4 SEA: Environmental Report Local (L): effect is restricted to the immediate location of the proposal or to a specific site within one of the four areas – Oxford, Larger Towns, Smaller Towns, Rural Oxfordshire Regional (R): effect is anticipated to cover a significant proportion or all of Oxfordshire. National (N): effect covers the whole of England and/or the UK (also includes international). Frequency: A constant (C) effect is one that results from a physical change that continues beyond the life of the LTP. A temporary/intermittent (T) effect is one which results from an operational change which could change if there is a change of policy, or a short term condition such as a construction phase related impact. The significance of effects predicted for the Area Strategies of the LTP4 have been evaluated using the scoring criteria shown in Table 1.1. 1.3 Assessment Approach and Limitations This assessment has been made mainly by using an expert judgement based assessment that is supported by appropriate evidence. The assessment is a qualitative assessment based upon descriptions about the strategies provided by Oxfordshire County Council. This assessment will require further updates following any changes to the Area Strategies. 2 Assessment of ‘Without LTP4’ Scenario and LTP4 Area Transport Strategies Table 2.1 presents the assessment of the environmental effects that would be experienced in the absence of the LTP4 Strategy (i.e. the ‘without LTP4’ scenario). Tables 2.2 to 2.14 present the assessment of the LTP4 Area Strategies and supporting strategies. ANC/APPENDIX F AREA ASSESSMENT REPORT 3 COPYRIGHT 2015 BY CH2M HILL, INC. • COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL Table 2.1: Environmental Effects in the Absence of the LTP4 2.1 ‘Without LTP4’ Scenario Current forecasts are for over 85,000 new jobs in the county by 2031, with forecast population growth of 90,000 by 2026. There are also major development areas identified in the county including Oxford, Bicester and Science Vale. Assessment of effect Suggested mitigation and SEA Objective Commentary enhancement measures or 2020 2031 (abridged) - - further studies Scale Frequency 2015 2021 Reversibility Beyond 2031 Beyond In the absence of the LTP4, the increasing population growth will N/A Maintain the place additional strain on the transport system and the forecast 1 vitality of town x xx xx R L C increase in traffic will result in significant congestion in town centres centres, and increasingly