Strategic Environmental Assessment – Non- Technical Summary Uom 27 28
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Shannon Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Study Strategic Environmental Assessment – Non- Technical Summary UoM 27_28 November 2017 Document Control Sheet Project: Shannon CFRAM Study Client: Office of Public Works Project No: 32103000 Document Title: SEA Environmental Report UoM 27_28 Non Technical Summary Originated by Checked by Reviewed by NAME NAME NAME ORIGINAL Hannah Fleming Rachel Kelly Oonagh Duffy NAME INITIALS Approved by As Project Manager I confirm that the above document(s) have been subjected to Jacobs’ Check and Review procedure and that I Peter Smyth approve them for issue PS DATE 13/07/2016 Draft REVISION NAME NAME NAME Rachel Kelly Oonagh Duffy Hannah Cullen NAME INITIALS Approved by As Project Manager I confirm that the above document(s) have been subjected to Jacobs’ Check and Review procedure and that I Peter Smyth approve them for issue PS DATE 04/12/2017 Final REVISION NAME NAME NAME Rachel Kelly Denise Meade Hannah Cullen NAME As Project Manager I confirm that the above INITIALS Approved by document(s) have been subjected to Jacobs’ Check and Review procedure and that I Peter Smyth approve them for issue PS DATE 12/12/2017 Final V2 Copyright Copyright Office of Public Works. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be copied or reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the Office of Public Works. If you have received this report in error, please destroy all copies in your possession or control and notify the Office of Public Works . Legal Disclaimer This report is subject to the limitations and warranties contained in the contract between the commissioning party (Office of Public Works) and Jacobs Engineering Ireland Limited. Contents 1 Background to the CFRAM Study 1 1.1 Study Context 1 2 Stakeholder and Public Involvement 3 3 Relationship with Other Policies and Plans 4 4 Flood Risk Assessment 5 4.1 Flood Risk Assessment and Mapping 5 4.2 Assessment Areas 5 4.3 Development of Options for the Draft FRMP 5 5 The SEA Process 8 6 Baseline Information - Current State of the Environment 9 7 The Strategic Environmental Assessment (protection) objectives 12 8 Summary of Assessment 13 9 Monitoring Programme 14 10 Appropriate Assessment (AA) 15 11 Conclusion 16 1 Background to the CFRAM Study The Office of Public Works (OPW) and their Local Authority partners are undertaking a catchment-based flood risk assessment and management study of the Shannon River Catchment – the Shannon Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Study. The main outputs from this Study – a series of Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) – will identify a programme of measures to manage the flood risk in the Shannon Catchment in the long-term, and make recommendations in relation to appropriate land use and development planning. The aim of the Shannon CFRAM Study is to: • Identify and map the existing and potential future flood hazard and flood risk within the Shannon Catchment; • Identify viable structural and non-structural options and measures for the effective and sustainable management of flood risk in the AFAs and within the study area as a whole; and • Prepare a set of FRMPs for the study area, that sets out the policies, strategies, measures and actions that should be pursued by the relevant bodies, including the OPW, Local Authorities and other stakeholders, to achieve the most cost- effective and sustainable management of existing and potential future flood risk within the study area, taking account of environmental plans, objectives and legislative requirements, and also other statutory plans and requirements. This Study is subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and an Appropriate Assessment (AA) to provide for a high level of protection of the environment and promote sustainable development by integrating environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of the FRMPs whilst meeting the provisions of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), the SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) and transposing regulations. This is the non-technical summary of the SEA ER for the draft Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP) for Unit of Management (UoM) 27_28. UoM 27_28 Shannon Estuary and Mal Bay is located almost entirely within County Clare. The Shannon Estuary forms the southern boundary with three main river catchments dominating, namely the Owenogarney (or Ratty) River, the Rine River and the River Fergus, all of which discharge into the Shannon Estuary. There are records of significant tidal and fluvial flooding occurring affecting a number of towns and villages in the UoM. The purpose of the SEA is to: • Identify, evaluate and describe the likely significant effects on the environment of implementing the draft FRMP for UoM 27_28; • Ensure that identified adverse effects are communicated, mitigated and that the effectiveness of mitigation is monitored; • Identify beneficial (and neutral) effects, and to ensure these are communicated; and • Provide opportunities for public involvement. 1.1 Study Context It is emphasised that the draft FRMP sets out the proposed strategy, actions and measures that are considered to be the most appropriate at this stage of assessment. The observations and views submitted as part of the consultation on the draft FRMP S27_28_SEA_AA_NTS Page 1 of 16 Nov 2017 will be reviewed and taken into account before the Plan is submitted for comment, amendment or approval by the Minister. Some changes may arise as a result of the consultation process. Further, once the FRMP is finalised, measures involving physical works (e.g., flood protection schemes) will need to be further developed at a local, project level before Exhibition or submission for planning approval. At this stage, local information that can not be captured at the Plan-level of assessment, such as ground investigation results and project-level environmental assessments, may give rise to some amendment of the proposed measure to ensure that it is fully adapted, developed and appropriate within the local context. While the degree of detail of the assessment undertaken to date would give confidence that any amendments should generally not be significant, the measures set out in the draft FRMP may be subject to some amendment prior to implementation, and in some cases may be subject to significant amendment. In this context, it is stressed that the SEA and AA undertaken in relation to the FRMP are plan-level assessments. The FRMP will inform the progression of the preferred measures, but project-level assessments will need to be undertaken as appropriate under the relevant legislation for consenting to that project for any physical works that may progress in the future. The approval of the Final FRMP does not confer approval or permission for the installation or construction of any physical works. The requirements for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and/or AA Screening, including any particular issues such as knowledge gaps or mitigation measures that are expected to be necessary, are set out in the Environmental Report or Natura Impact Statement as relevant. S27_28_SEA_AA_NTS Page 2 of 16 Nov 2017 2 Stakeholder and Public Involvement Public and stakeholder engagement is a critical component to the process of developing a sustainable, long term strategy for flood risk management. At all stages of the CFRAM Study it has been essential to ensure that information relating to the study was freely available and that direct communication with the project team was enabled at all times during the study. In order to ensure this there are regularly updated websites for the National CFRAM Programme and the Shannon CFRAM Study, as well as a dedicated phone line and postal/email addresses. The National CFRAM Steering Group was established in 2009 to engage key Government Department and other state stakeholders in the process of implementing the National CFRAM Programme. This was followed by the National CFRAM Stakeholder Group established in 2014 to engage key national non-governmental stakeholder organisations in the process. Stakeholder and public consultation was rolled out at key stages of the development of the FRMP. Stakeholder and public involvement has been achieved through establishment of a Project Advisory Group, a Project Progress Group, stakeholder workshops and public consultation days. Specific examples of consultation activities include: • SEA Pre-scoping Workshop in July 2011 designed to gather early input from statutory environmental authorities; • SEA Scoping Workshop in October 2011 for a wider range of Environmental and Local Authority stakeholders; • A Public Consultation Day (PCD) for each AFA to present Draft Flood Maps in November 2014 and March 2015; • A Draft Flood Map Preparation Stage Workshop with a number of stakeholders in April 2015; • Preliminary Option Report PCDs in a number of AFAs in October 2015; and • A Preliminary Option Workshop with a number of stakeholders in May 2016. The current consultation on the draft FRMP and accompanying SEA ER is another opportunity for stakeholders and the general public to influence the content and recommendations of the draft FRMP for UoM 27_28. Following completion of the consultation period, all responses received will be considered and amendments made to the draft UoM 27_28 FRMP, before publication of the final FRMP and an SEA Post-Adoption Statement, documenting how the comments received have been addressed. S27_28_SEA_AA_NTS Page 3 of 16 Nov 2017 3 Relationship with Other Policies and Plans The draft FRMP for UoM 27_28