Habitats Regulations Assessment (Screening Report and Appropriate Assessment)
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Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019 for Castle Point Borough Habitats Regulations Assessment (Screening Report and Appropriate Assessment) 27 November 2018 Page 2 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment About us Place Services is a leading public sector provider of integrated environmental assessment, planning, design and management services. Our combination of specialist skills and experience means that we are uniquely qualified to help public organisations meet the requirements of the planning process, create practical design solutions and deliver environmental stewardship. Our Natural Environment Team has expertise of arboriculture, biodiversity, countryside management and ecology. This multidisciplinary approach brings together a wide range of experience, whether it is for large complex briefs or small discrete projects. We aim to help our clients protect and improve the natural environment through their planning, regulatory or land management activities. This approach ensures that not only that our clients will fulfil their legal duties towards the natural environment, but they do so in a way that brings positive benefits to wildlife and people. Address: County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1QH Contact no: 0333 013 6840 Email: [email protected] Website: www.placeservices.gov.uk VAT number: GB 104 2528 13 Page 3 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment Contents Summary 9 1. Introduction 11 1.1 The Purpose of This Report 11 1.2 Castle Point’s Pre Submission Local Plan October 2019 12 1.3 Habitats (European) Sites 13 2. Method and Approach (overview and Screening) 15 2.1 Assessment of Likely Significant Effects 19 2.2 Identifying Habitats Sites, their Conservation Objectives and Qualifying Features 19 2.3 Screening and Impact Pathways 22 2.4 Screening categorisation 30 2.5 Appropriate Assessment and the Integrity Test 30 3. Screening of Likely Significant Effects 32 3.1 Screening Policies for Likely Significant Effect 32 3.2 Policies Carried Forward to Appropriate Assessment Stage 41 3.3 Habitat Sites Screened in for Appropriate Assessment 41 3.4 HRA Screening Conclusion and Considering the Next Stage 43 4. Introducing Appropriate Assessment and Considering Adverse Effects on Site Integrity 44 4.1 Introduction 44 4.2 Recent Court Judgements and their consideration in this Report 45 4.3 Approach and Methodology of the Appropriate Assessment 47 5. Undertaking the Appropriate Assessment 50 5.1 Habitat damage, loss and fragmentation / land take as a result of development 50 5.2 Loss of Functionally Linked Land / Impact upon Features on Land outside Habitats Sites 55 5.3 Water Quality and Quantity 66 5.4 Disturbance 78 Recreational Disturbance 80 Other Forms of Disturbance 83 5.5 Air Quality: Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition 90 5.6 Assessment of Impacts in Combination with other Plans and Projects 97 5.7 Re-applying the integrity test 106 6. Recommendations 107 7. Summary and Conclusion 111 8. References 114 Page 4 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment List of Tables Table 1. Description and Explanation of SPAs, SACs and Ramsar Sites .......................................................... 14 Table 2. Stages of the Habitats Regulations Assessment Process .................................................................... 17 Table 3: Habitats Sites within 22 km Zone of Influence of allocations for development. ................................... 20 Table 4: Main sources and effects of air pollutants on Habitat Sites .................................................................. 26 Table 5. Zones of Influence for Recreational Disturbance .................................................................................. 29 Table 6. Habitats Regulations Assessment Screening Categorisation .............................................................. 30 Table 7: Policies that have the Potential to Cause a Likely Significant Effect and their Impact Pathways ....... 33 Table 8. Habitats Sites, Impact Pathways and Examples of LSE Identified at Screening Stage ...................... 41 Table 9: Advice on Seasonality for Benfleet and Southend Marshes SPA (Natural England) .......................... 48 Table 10. Other plans or projects considered for in combination effects............................................................ 98 Page 5 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment List of Figures Figure 1. Outline of the Four Stage Approach to the Assessment of Plans under the Habitats Regulations (taken from the DTA handbook). Page 6 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment List of Appendices Appendix 1. Strategic Housing Land Area App Assessment Appendix 2. HRA Screening of Individual Policies Appendix 3. Results of embedding mitigation within the Appropriate Assessment Appendix 4. Characteristics of Habitats Sites Appendix 5. Key vulnerabilities / factors affecting site integrity from Site Improvement Plans Appendix 6. Policies Screened in for Further Assessment Appendix 7. Habitats Site Zone of Influence and Strategic Housing Allocations Appendix 8. Habitats Sites, Main River Locations and Housing Appendix 9 Proposed Air Quality Monitoring Locations for Habitats Sites Page 7 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment Report Checking and Version Control Prepared by: Emma Simmonds | Ecological Consultant | [email protected] Report version control: Version Date Author Description of changes 1.1 26.11.18 Emma Simmonds Draft HRA Screening report 1.2 26.11.18 Hamish Jackson Reviewed internally 1.3 27.11.18 Lucy Addison Formatted internally 1.4 27.11.18 Sue Hooton HRA screening section issued Hamish Jackson 1.5 16.1.19 Impact Pathway Tables Emma Simmonds 1.5 17.01.19 Emma Simmonds Draft Appropriate Assessment 1.6 18.01.19 Lucy Addison Reviewed and formatted internally 1.7 07.10.19 Emma Simmonds Final draft Appropriate Assessment 1.8 07.10.19 Lucy Addison Reviewed and formatted internally 1.9 11.10.10 Zara Hanshaw Formatting 2.0 18.10.19 Emma Simmonds Draft Appropriate Assessment 2.1 18.10.19 Zara Hanshaw Formatting 2.2 21.10.19 Sue Hooton Appropriate Assessment reviewed and issued Page 8 Client: Castle Point Caste Point Local Plan: Habitats Regulations Assessment Borough Council and Appropriate Assessment Glossary of Acronyms AA Appropriate Assessment AEOI Adverse Effect on Integrity (of Habitats Sites) CEMP Construction Environment Management Plan CPBC Castle Point Borough Council EA Environment Agency EMS European Marine Site EU European Union HRA Habitats Regulations Assessment IFCA Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority IROPI Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest IRZ Impact Risk Zone JSP Joint Strategic Plan Km Kilometre LPA Local Planning Authority LTP Local Transport Plan LSE Likely Significant Effect NE Natural England NPPF National Planning Policy Framework NSIP Nationally Strategic Infrastructure Project RAMS Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy SAC Special Area of Conservation SACO Supplementary Advice on Conservation Objective SIP Site Improvement Plan SPA Special Protection Area SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest TE2100 Thames Estuary 2100 Plan WRMP Water Resources Management Plan WRZ Water Resource Zone WRC Water Recycling Centres WwTW Waste Water Treatment Works ZOI Zone of Influence Page 9 Castle Point Borough Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019: Council Habitats Regulations Assessment Summary A Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) has been prepared by Place Services for the Pre-Submission Local Plan October 2019 to enable Castle Point Borough Council to comply with Regulation 63 of The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. As the policies contained in the Pre-Submission Local Plan cannot rule out Likely Significant Effects on Habitats (European) Sites at Stage 1 HRA Screening, there is a need for further assessment of impacts and Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment is necessary. This report is the first stage of the HRA process: it aims to consider the elements of the Pre-Submission Local Plan which need to be screened in as having the potential for Likely Significant Effect (LSE) and hence requiring further assessment of their potential to result in adverse effects on the integrity of one of more Habitats Sites. There are a wide range of potential impacts upon Habitats Sites which could arise as a result of components of the Local Plan; the following have been considered most likely to cause a Likely Significant Effect: • Habitat loss and fragmentation / land take by development; • Loss of functionally linked land (land outside the SPA and Ramsar site); • Increase of any type of disturbance; • Changes in water availability, or water quality; • Changes in atmospheric pollution levels. The following Habitats Sites have been scoped in as it has been identified that they may be affected by impacts relating to Castle Point Local Plan. • Benfleet and Southend Marshes SPA and Ramsar • Thames Estuary and Marshes SPA and Ramsar • Outer Thames Estuary SPA (marine) • Essex Estuaries SAC • Foulness (Mid-Essex Coast Phase 5) SPA and Ramsar • Blackwater Estuary (Mid-Essex Coast Phase 4) SPA and Ramsar • Crouch and Roach Estuaries (Mid-Essex Coast Phase 3) SPA