Habitats Regulations Assessment Appropriate Assessment Report
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Craven District Council Local Plan Appropriate Assessment (Iteration IV) Habitats Regulations Assessment Appropriate Assessment Report (Iteration IV, Final) Prepared in relation to the Adoption of the Craven District Council Local Plan, 2012‐2032 Prepared by: David Feeney, B.E. (Environmental), MRUP, MSc Prepared for: Craven District Council Completion Date: November 2019 1 Craven District Council Local Plan Appropriate Assessment (Iteration IV) Notes on progression of HRA documents through the Craven Local Plan process: (1.) As part of the Habitats Regulations Assessment process, this fourth and final iteration of the Appropriate Assessment follows the Screening Assessment Report, and three previous iterations of the Appropriate Assessment, which coincided with the Publication and Submission versions of the Local Plan and the schedule of Main Modifications stage, post the Local Plan’s examination. All of these documents are available to view in the Planning Policy section of the Craven District Council website; (2.) The Screening Assessment Report was based on analysis of draft Craven Local Plan policies and spatial strategies at a time during 2016. As the Local Plan process evolved, these policies and strategies were subject to updating and content change, with some new policies added. The first Appropriate Assessment document then analysed the contents of the Publication version of the Craven Local Plan, as part of the continued interaction of the Local Plan with the Habitats Regulations Assessment process. The second iteration of the Appropriate Assessment was produced to coincide with the Local Plan’s Submission stage. This document incorporated the suggestions and recommendations of Natural England, in its consultation response to the Habitats Regulations Assessment work as part of the Publication version of the Craven Local Plan. The assessment also included commentary and analysis on relevant representations received in response to the published Craven Local Plan itself. The third iteration of the HRA was prepared in the aftermath of the examination of the draft Craven Local Plan. It was prepared to incorporate details of relevant Main Modifications to the Local Plan recommended during and after the examination, in addition to new information relating to any potential cumulative traffic impacts provided by Harrogate Borough Council, and other relevant matters; (3.) This fourth and final iteration of the HRA is prepared to coincide with the Adoption stage of the Local Plan. Chapter six is a narrative and analysis of six neighbouring Local Plan areas adjacent or close to the Craven local plan area, in terms of assessing any potential cumulative effects of the plans in combination. The Chapter is now fully updated to appropriately take into consideration the development proposals put forward by existing Local Plans, or draft new Local Plans at various stages of preparation at the time of writing. The implications of the Further Main Modification stage of the examination process is incorporated here, primarily in terms of local green space designations. This iteration also details those parts of the Inspector’s report on the examination of the Craven Local Plan which are relevant to the HRA, specifically the report’s Issue 8 and the Main Modifications that flow from that part of the report. (4.) The Appropriate Assessment for the Craven District Council Local Plan has been prepared by an independent consultant, who possesses both degree qualifications and work expertise in each of the disciplines of environmental engineering, urban & regional planning, and ecology. Photographs on front page of report: Carleton Moor (left) and Aire Valley (right), both images copyright of Craven District Council. For comments or queries in relation to this document, please e‐mail: [email protected]. This report has been prepared by the author with all reasonable skill, care and diligence, taking account of the programme of work agreed between the author and the client on this project. The author accepts no responsibility whatsoever to third parties to whom this report, or any part thereof, is made known. Any such party relies upon the report at their own risk. 2 Craven District Council Local Plan Appropriate Assessment (Iteration IV) Contents Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 1. Introduction………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 1.1 The Local Plan and the Habitats Regulations…………………………………………………………………………………7 1.2 Biodiversity and the Planning System……………………………………………………………………………………………8 1.3 Requirement for Habitats Regulations Assessment………………………………………………………………………8 1.4 The Area of the Craven District Council Local Plan………………………………………………………………………10 1.5 Purpose and Structure of this Document…………………………………………………………………………………….10 2. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..12 2.1 Guidance and Best Practice…………………………………………………………………………………………………………12 2.2 The Four Stage HRA Process……………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 2.3 The Screening Stage……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………13 2.4 The Appropriate Assessment Stage…………………………………………………………………………………………….14 2.5 Working Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 2.6 The Craven Local Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………15 3. Description of the Local Plan Area…………………….………………………………………………………………………………17 3.1 Craven Local Plan Area……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17 3.2 Settlements in Craven…………………………………….………………………………………………………………………….18 3.3 Natural Environment of Craven………………………………………………………………………………………………….19 3.4 Settlements in the context of the natural environment……………………………………………………………..19 4. European Site Qualifying Features and Conservation Objectives………………………………………………………21 4.1 Identification of European Sites…………………………………………………………………………………………………21 4.2 Research of Designated Sites…………………………………………………………………………………………………….22 4.3 Scope of the Assessment…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22 4.4 European Site Conservation Objectives……………………………………………………………………………………..22 4.5 Priority Natural Habitats or Species…………………………………………………………………………………………..23 4.6 Site descriptions, qualifying features and conservation objectives……………………………………………23 5. Proposed Policies and Development in the Plan………………………………………….………………………………….42 5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………42 5.2 Settlement Hierarchy and Site Allocations……………………………………………………………………………….43 5.3 The distribution of preferred sites with settlements………………………………………………………………..47 6. Neighbouring Plans and Projects……………………………………………………………………………………………………..56 6.1 Neighbouring Authority Areas and Local Plans………………………………………………………………………...56 6.2 Bradford Metropolitan District Council…………………………………………………………………………………....56 6.3 Harrogate Borough Council………………………………………………………………………………………………………59 6.4 Lancaster City Council………………………………………………………………………………………………………………60 6.5 Pendle Borough Council…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..61 6.6 Ribble Valley Borough Council………………………………………………………………………………………………….62 6.7 Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority…………………………………………………………………………………..63 6.8 Assessment of Cumulative Effects…………………………………………………………………………………………….64 7. Identifying Impact Pathways…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..66 7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………66 3 Craven District Council Local Plan Appropriate Assessment (Iteration IV) 7.2 Recreational impacts on designated European sites………………………………………………………………67 7.3 Loss of Supporting Feeding Sites to Development………………………………………………………………….70 7.4 Air Quality Impacts near SPAs and SACs…………………………………………………………………………………71 7.5 Impacts on Water Supply and Quality…………………………………………………………………………………….75 7.6 Urban edge effects and urbanisation……………………………………………………………………………………..76 7.7 Dependent Species and/or Habitats………………………………………………………………………………………77 8. Avoiding and Mitigating Impacts………………………………………………………………………………………………….79 8.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….79 8.2 Recreational Alternatives to North Pennine Moors SAC………………………………………………………..80 8.3 Recreational Alternatives to South Pennine Moors SAC………………………………………………………..81 8.4 Loss of Feeding Sites and Possible Foraging Areas for Bird Species………………………………………..83 8.5 Air Quality Impacts near SPAs and SACs………………………………………………………………………………..84 8.6 Increased water demand and impacts on water supply and quality………………………………………89 8.7 Urban Edge Effects………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..91 8.8 Dependent Species and/or Habitats……………………………………………………………………………………..91 8.9 Inspector’s Report on the Examination of the Craven Local Plan…………………………………………..92 9. Conclusions……………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………95 9.1 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………95 9.2 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..95 References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………97 Appendix I: Map of SACs and the National Park boundary…….…………………………………………………………………..101 Appendix II: Map of SPAs, Ramsar Sites and National Park boundary………….…………………………………………....102 Appendix III: Review of Local Plan Policies and potential effects on European and Ramsar sites……………….103 Appendix IV: Green Spaces in the town of Skipton, and the villages of Embsay and Carleton……………………130 Appendix V: South Pennine SPA and Buffers of 400m, 2.5km and 7km from the SPA boundary……………....131 Appendix VI: Green wedges designations in the South Craven area……………………….………………………………..132 Appendix VII: