Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd Council Joint Local Development Plan SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL ADDENDUM REPORT December 2016 CONTENTS PAGE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose and Structure of the Report 2.0 SA OF PROPOSED MATTERS ARISING CHANGES 2 3.0 SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS 2 4.0 SCHEDULES OF MATTERS ARISING CHANGES AND SCREENING 3 OPINION - WRITTEN STATEMENT SA of Proposed Matters Arising Changes Written Statement APPENDIX 1 377 SA Screening housing allocation, Casita, Beaumaris (T32) 5.0 SCHEDULES OF MATTERS ARISING CHANGES AND SCREENING 379 OPINION – PROPOSALS MAPS SA of Proposed Matters Arising Changes Proposal Maps 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd Council (the Councils) are currently preparing a Joint Local Development Plan (JLDP) for the Gwynedd and Anglesey Local Planning Authority Areas. The JLDP will set out the strategy for development and land use in Anglesey and Gwynedd for the 15 year period 2011- 2026. It will set out policies to implement the strategy and provide guidance on the location of new houses, employment opportunities and leisure and community facilities. 1.2 The Councils have been undertaking Sustainability Appraisal (SA) incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) since 2011 to inform the preparation of the JLDP. The SA process for the JLDP has produced the following reports to date: . Scoping Report July 2011 - which should be used for consultation on the scope of the SA/SEA - placed on public consultation on 21/07/2011 for a period of 7 weeks. A notice was placed in local newspapers presenting information regarding the consultation period and invited interested parties to submit written comments about the Report. Draft Initial Sustainability Appraisal Report July 2012 - was made available on the Council’s websites in July 2012 . Initial Sustainability Appraisal Report May 2013 - This report was placed on public consultation alongside the Preferred Strategy for a period of 7 weeks. Deposit Sustainability Appraisal Report February 2015 - This report was placed on public consultation alongside the Deposit Plan for a period of 7 weeks. Deposit & Focused Changes Sustainability Appraisal Report February 2016 - accompanied the Deposit JLDP & Focused Changes on submission to the Welsh Government. Sustainability Addendum Report July 2016 considered proposed amendments to the JLDP following consideration of responses to the Focused Changes as well as further work in relation to Gypsy & Traveller site options, renewable energy development, and addressed the Inspector’s concerns. Sustainability Appraisal of Matters Arising Changes (NMC) (this report) considers proposed amendments to the JLDP which have emerged as a result of matters arising during the LDP Hearing Sessions. Purpose and Structure of this SA Addendum Report 1.3 The purpose of this Addendum Report is to clearly set out the method and findings of further SA work carried out in relation to the Matters Arising Change. Following this introductory section, the report is organised into two further sections: 1 . Section 2 - explains the method and sets out the findings of the further SA work in relation to Matters Arising Changes. Section 3 - sets out the overall summary findings and next steps for the JLDP and the SA. 2.0 SA OF PROPOSED NMC 2.1 A number of changes are being proposed to the JLDP which have emerged as a result of matters arising during the LDP Hearing Sessions. It is important to ensure that any proposed changes are screened through the SA process to determine if they significantly affect the findings of the previous SA work presented in the SA Report (February 2016) and if further appraisal work is required. 2.2 The first step in the assessment was therefore to screen all the NMC to identify those that could have a significant effect on the final outcomes that result from implementation of the Plan. Each NMC is set out in a series of schedules, which are included in the sections that follow this report. For ease of use, the elements of the Plan that are subject to NMC are set out in the same order as the Deposit Plan. The findings of the screening work are recorded in a column against each NMC. 2.3 The changes include moving the reference to the housing allocation at Beaumaris (T32) from Policy TAI 15 to TAI 5. In undertaking the SA Screening of the NMC schedule it became apparent that the site was not screened in the original assessment. Therefore, an appraisal of this site is presented in Appendix I. 3.0 SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS 3.1 The screening found that all the proposed changes are minor and do not significantly affect the findings of the previous SA work as they seek to provide further clarification or ensure consistency. 3.2 This SA Addendum Report will be subject to public consultation alongside the Matters Arising Changes to the JLDP for a 6 week period starting in January 2017. 2 4. Schedule of Matters Arising Changes (NMC): Introduction & Chapter 1 – Chapter 6 NMC Policy/ Matters Arising Changes SA Screening Number Para/ Map Introduction NMC 1 1 - 6 Delete as the text describes the Focus Changes stage and is therefore no longer required. As this proposed Matters Minor change which Arising Change affects a series of paragraphs/ whole section, the deleted text is not shown here in order to save does not significantly paper. However, the revised Composite Plan (2017) shows the deleted text. affect the findings of the SA. Chapter 1 Executive Summary NMC 2 1.1 – 1.33 Delete Chapter 1 Executive Summary from the Plan in order to streamline the Plan’s content. As this proposed Minor change which Matters Arising Change affects a whole chapter, the deleted text is not shown here in order to save paper. does not significantly However, the revised Composite Plan (2017) shows the deleted text. affect the findings of the SA. Note: changes to chapter numbers, paragraph numbers, etc. that will be required as a consequence of this Matters Arising Change will be revised and presented in the final adopted and printed version of the Plan. Chapter 2 Introduction NMC 3 2.2 & Table Delete as the information is no longer required: Minor change which 4 does not significantly When the Plan is adopted, it will replace the Development Plans shown in the table below. It will also replace the affect the findings of Anglesey Unitary Development Plan (that was stopped in 2005), and Interim Planning Policies, which currently are the SA. material planning considerations for determining planning applications by the Isle of Anglesey County Council. Table 4: List of Development Plans that will be replaced after adopting the Plan 3 NMC Policy/ Matters Arising Changes SA Screening Number Para/ Map Isle of Anglesey Planning Authority Area Gwynedd Planning Authority Area • Gwynedd Structure Plan (1993) • Gwynedd Unitary Development • Anglesey Local Plan (1996) Plan (2009) NMC 4 2.3 Amend to provide text that refers to the Plan’s adoption: Minor change which does not significantly The Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development was formally adopted on (insert date) 2017 Once the Plan is affect the findings of adopted, and the majority of decisions on planning applications in the two Planning Authority areas will be based on the SA. the contents of the Plan. NMC 5 2.4 Amend to provide text that refers to the Plan in its post adoption stage: Minor change which does not significantly The Plan will deals with Anglesey and Gwynedd, but parts of Gwynedd within the Snowdonia National Park will not be affect the findings of are not included. Map 1 shows the Plan area. It is neither a sub-regional nor a formal administrative area but whilst the SA. every area has its own special character, both Councils believe that there is a strong cross-boundary relationship between them in terms of function, economy, infrastructure and policy. This means that collaboration on a development plan makes made planning and economic sense. NMC 6 2.6 Amend to provide text that refers to the Plan in its post adoption stage: Minor change which does not significantly It will state what The Plan sets out the strategy and aims for development and land use will be in the area covered by affect the findings of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Planning Authorities and includes it will include policies used to implement these the SA. strategies and aims over a period of 15 years (2011 to 2026). The Plan will have a significant influence on development of the whole area and individual communities. It will provide provides guidance regarding the location of new houses, employment opportunities, leisure and community facilities and where these will be provided in the area. The Plan will be used to determine which developments will receive permission in the future by the Councils 4 NMC Policy/ Matters Arising Changes SA Screening Number Para/ Map and where. NMC 7 2.7 Delete text as reference is made to the tests of soundness elsewhere in the Plan: Minor change which does not significantly It is a requirement for the Plan to be ‘sound’, i.e. showing good judgment and that it can be trusted. The matters that affect the findings of are important to the area must be examined, based on evidence regarding the economy, the society and the the SA. environment and fair consideration must be given to practical alternative options. The Plan will be measured against the Tests of Soundness. These deal with the contents of the Plan as well as its preparation process. The Tests are reproduced in Appendix 1. NMC 8 2.8 Amend to include reference to the combined Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment as Minor changes to well as the Habitat Regulations Assessment and Welsh Language Impact Assessment: provide further clarification, which do The process of preparing the Plan is shown in Figure 2, which shows that the Plan preparation process has a number not significantly of distinct but interrelated stages.