Worcestershire County Council Minerals Local Plan Habitats
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Worcestershire County Council Minerals Local Plan Habitats Regulation Assessment Publication Version Record of Assessment 1.3 February 2020 Contents 1. Executive Summary.............................................................................. 6 2. Introduction........................................................................................... 8 Background to HRA ............................................................................. 8 Legislation ............................................................................................ 8 Guidance and Process ......................................................................... 9 Habitats Regulations Assessment Process ........................................ 10 Approach to dealing with uncertainty ................................................. 10 Regulatory and Implementation Uncertainty: ..................................... 11 Planning Hierarchy Uncertainty: ......................................................... 11 3. Scanning and site selection list ........................................................... 12 Information for Assessment ............................................................... 17 4. Key Potential Impacts ......................................................................... 28 5. Approach to the Application of a Screening Framework ..................... 36 Interpretation of ‘likely significant effect’ ............................................. 36 Consideration of Site Scanning Results: ............................................ 37 Likely Pathway to Impact Model ......................................................... 37 Physical Damage to and Loss of Habitat, Including Effects of Land- Take and Habitat Fragmentation ........................................................ 39 Hydrological change .......................................................................... 44 Non-Physical Disturbance .................................................................. 50 Air Pollution ........................................................................................ 50 Non-Toxic Contamination .................................................................. 51 6. Assessing the Minerals Local Plan Publication Version Document .. 55 7. Assessing the Spatial Policy ............................................................ 75 Evolution of the MLP spatial strategy ................................................. 75 Strategic Corridors within the Publication Version MLP ..................... 76 Summary ........................................................................................... 78 8. The ‘In Combination’ Assessment .................................................... 79 9. HRA Summary and Invitation for Comments .................................... 81 Appendix 1. ............. Location and boundaries of Scanned International Sites. 83 Appendix 2. Supplemental Evidence supporting International Site Conservation Objectives ..................................................................... 92 Appendix 3. ......................... Showing strategic corridors for Mineral Extraction 113 Appendix 4. ....................... International Sites with illustrative proximity buffers 119 Appendix 5. ....... Showing International Sites within Worcestershire and their interaction with the most proximate strategic corridors. .................... 120 Appendix 6. ..................... Natural England Comments on the HRA Screening Assessment ...................................................................................... 124 Second Stage Minerals Local Plan Consultation, 2013(Natural England consultation received 31/1/2014) .................................................... 124 Third Stage Minerals Local Plan Consultation, 2016 (Natural England consultation received 15/3/2017). ................................................... 125 Fourth Stage Minerals Local Plan Consultation, 2018 (Natural England consultation received 08/2/2019). ................................................... 125 Appendix 7. Template for recording the conclusion of the Habitat Regulations Assessment .................................................................. 127 Tables Table 1: International Sites to be considered within the HRA Screening Assessment ......................................................................................................... 15 Table 2: International Sites: Pertinent information for Site Scanning and Selection ............................................................................................................................. 17 Table 3: Generic Minerals Impacts Associated with Different Materials ............... 28 Table 4: Broad Category Summary of Potential Impacts arising from Mineral Working ................................................................................................................ 34 Table 5: Summary of screening distances used for each source of impact .......... 54 Table 6: Screening Categories (after HRA Handbook, 2017) ............................... 55 Table 7: Screening Assessment of Chapters and Policies constituting the Publication Version MLP ...................................................................................... 57 Table 8: showing geographical relationship between proposed strategic corridors and scanned International Sites (approximate distance in km to closest point) .... 77 Figures Figure 1: Outline of the four stage approach to the assessment of plans under the Habitats Regulations ............................................................................................ 10 Figure 2: Showing Initial Site Scanning Results ................................................... 14 Figure 3: Showing the extent of Worcestershire located within an IRZ for minerals development ........................................................................................................ 41 Figure 4: Shows fluvial pathways draining away from Bredon Hill SAC (and flowing away from Dixton Wood SAC). ............................................................................. 46 Figure 5: Shows fluvial pathways around Worcester City demonstrating that pluvial recharge and ground water are the key elements maintaining sufficient water quantity to support Lyppard Grange SACs conservation objectives. .................... 48 Figure 6: Traffic contribution to concentrations of pollutants at different distances from a road (Figure C1, DMRB.V11.S318) ............................................................ 51 Figure 7: Concentrations of pollutants arising from different types of mineral extraction activity at dispersal distances (source IAQM, 2016) ............................ 53 Figure 8: Showing overview of Worcestershire and surrounding International Sites identified within this report. SACs marked in red, SPAs marked in purple, 15km County boundary marked in yellow. Detailed plans below. ................................... 83 Figure 9: Bredon Hill SAC .................................................................................... 84 Figure 10: Lyppard Grange Ponds SAC ............................................................... 85 Figure 11: Fen Pools SAC.................................................................................... 86 Figure 12: Downton Gorge SAC ........................................................................... 87 Figure 13: Dixton Wood SAC ............................................................................... 88 Figure 14: Walmore Common SPA ...................................................................... 89 3 Figure 15: River Wye SAC ................................................................................... 90 Figure 16: Severn Estuary SAC, SPA & RAMSAR. .............................................. 91 Figure 17: Showing strategic corridors for mineral extraction within the County as defined in the Publication Version Worcestershire Minerals Local Plan. ............ 113 Figure 18: The Salwarpe Tributaries Strategic Corridor. .................................... 114 Figure 19: The North East Strategic Corridor ..................................................... 115 Figure 20: The Avon and Carrant Brook Strategic Corridor ................................ 116 Figure 21: The North West Strategic Corridor .................................................... 117 Figure 22: The Lower Severn Strategic Corridor ................................................ 118 Figure 23: Showing International Sites overview with 200 and 400m buffers around SACs and 5000m buffers around SPAs highlighted. .............................. 119 Figure 24: Showing International Sites with proximity buffers and distribution of mineral strategic corridors. ................................................................................. 120 Figure 25: Showing Lyppard Grange SAC with 200 and 400m buffers and the proximity to closest mineral strategic corridors. .................................................. 121 Figure 26: Showing Bredon Hill and Dixton Wood SAC with 200 and 400m buffers and the proximity to the closest mineral Strategic Corridor 'Avon and Carrant Brook'. ................................................................................................................ 122 Figure 27: Showing Bredon Hill and Dixton Wood SAC with 200 and 400m buffers, proximity to the closest mineral Strategic Corridor 'Avon and Carrant Brook' and the 'Key' and 'Significant' mineral resources identified within