Appendix 3.1 ES Scoping Report Submitted to PINS
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Document 3.1- ES Volume 2 Appendix 3.1 ES Scoping Report Submitted to PINS The Kemsley Mill K4 Combined Heat and Power Generating Station Development Consent Order April 2018 - Submission Version PINS Ref: EN010090 Land at KEMSLEY PAPER MILL (K4) CHP PLANT, SITTINGBOURNE, KENT EIA SCOPING REPORT D S SMITH PLC AUGUST 2017 The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 REQUEST FOR SCOPING OPINION Client: D S Smith Plc Project: Kemsley Paper Mill (K4) CHP Plant Date: June 2017 Reference: TS/12321 Author: Tim Spicer BSc MSc PIEMA DHA Environment Eclipse House Eclipse Park Sittingbourne Road Maidstone Kent ME14 3EN Tel: 01622 776226 Email: [email protected] Web: www.dhaenvironment.co.uk Twitter: www.twitter.com/dhagroup Part of the DHA Group Planning | Urban Design | Transport | Environment Contents 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of this Document ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Site Description ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Location Plan ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Proposed Development Site ............................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Planning History ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Nature and Purpose of the Development ..................................................................................................................... 3 Background .............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Neighbouring development ............................................................................................................................. 3 Proposed development ...................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Environmental impact assessment – an overview ..................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Limitations and assumptions ............................................................................................................................................. 7 1.7 Other related legislation ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 2 SCOPING AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ................................................... 8 2.1 Background ............................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 The purpose of scoping ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 2.3 Scoping methodology .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 3 POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ......................................................................... 20 3.1 Scoping - stage 2 ................................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Traffic and transport ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 3.3 Air quality ................................................................................................................................................................................. 28 3.4 Climate change ...................................................................................................................................................................... 31 3.5 Noise .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 3.6 Ground conditions................................................................................................................................................................ 36 3.7 Proposed assessment methodology ............................................................................................................................. 38 3.8 Landscape and visual effects ............................................................................................................................................ 42 3.9 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage ............................................................................................................................... 45 3.10 Biodiversity .............................................................................................................................................................................. 48 3.11 Water Environment .............................................................................................................................................................. 54 3.12 Risk of accidents and disasters......................................................................................................................................... 60 3.13 Cumulative effects ................................................................................................................................................................ 63 3.14 Alternatives ............................................................................................................................................................................. 65 4 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 66 APPENDICES Appendix I Schedule 4 of the EIA Regulations Appendix II Site Constraints Plan Appendix III Cumulative Development Sites D S Smith Plc Kemsley Paper Mill (K4) CHP Plant 1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of this Document 1.1.1 D S Smith Plc intends to apply to the Secretary of State for an Order granting development consent to decommission an existing gas fired Combined Heat and Power plant and build, commission and operate a new gas-fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant to supply steam and power to their Kemsley Paper Mill, in Sittingbourne, Kent. 1.1.2 The proposed development constitutes a project falling within the definition of a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008 by virtue of building, commission and operating an onshore generating station with an energy generating capacity of greater than 50MW and therefore requires a Development Consent Order (DCO) granting permission. 1.1.3 It is considered that the location, scale and nature of the proposed development notwithstanding the selection criteria in Schedule 3 of the corresponding Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (hereafter the EIA Regulations), may have the potential to give rise to significant effects on the environment. This being the case, the proposed development falls within Schedule 2 part 3(a) of the EIA Regulations and is considered to be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development, as defined by the EIA Regulations. The DCO application is therefore required to be accompanied by an Environmental Statement (ES), prepared in accordance with the EIA Regulations. 1.1.4 This report presents information to assist the Secretary of State in the process of preparing their written opinion on the scope of the information that should be set out in the ES. It outlines DHA Environment’s initial assessment of the potentially significant environmental effects that the EIA would need to examine and the preliminary scope of the information that would need to be provided in the ES. DHA Environment in collaboration with RPS has prepared this report on behalf of D S Smith Plc in order to inform the Secretary of State’s formal EIA scoping opinion under the EIA Regulations. 1.1.5 This scoping report constitutes a formal request for a scoping opinion under Regulation 10(1). 1.1.6 The initial output of the EIA process will be Preliminary Environmental Information (PEI), which will be the focus of formal pre-application consultation, and a final ES to be submitted in support of the DCO application. EIA Scoping Request– August 2017 Ref: TS/12321 page 1 D S Smith Plc Kemsley Paper Mill (K4) CHP Plant 1.2 Site Description Location Plan 1.2.1 Regulation 10(3) (a) requires a request for a Scoping Opinion to be accompanied by “a plan sufficient to identify the land”. Such a plan is provided as Figure 1.1. Proposed Development Site 1.2.2 The proposed site lies adjacent to the south east corner of the existing Kemsley Paper Mill site approximately 600m west of the Swale Estuary and north of