Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report November 2016 Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 Table of contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 2. Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................... 5 3. Climate Change ................................................................................................................. 12 4. Landscape and Historic Environment ........................................................................... 22 5. Environmental Quality ..................................................................................................... 38 6. Land, Soil and Water resources ..................................................................................... 44 7. Population and Communities ......................................................................................... 48 8. Health and Wellbeing ....................................................................................................... 59 9. Transportation ................................................................................................................... 66 10. Economy ............................................................................................................................. 71 11. Next steps........................................................................................................................... 87 Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 Acronyms AONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty AQMA Air Quality Management Area BAP Biodiversity Action Plan BOA Biodiversity Opportunity Area CO2 Carbon dioxide DPD Development Plan Document EU European Union GhG Greenhouse gas emissions IMD Index of Multiple Deprivation kWh Kilowatt-hour LEP Local Enterprise Partnership LSOA Lower Super Output Area NERC Natural Environment Research Council NEWP Natural Environment White Paper NPPF National Planning Policy Framework NPPG National Planning Policy Guidance NVZ Nitrate Vulnerable Zone SA Sustainability Appraisal SAC Special Area of Conservation SDC Sevenoaks District Council SDST Sevenoaks District Strategy for Transport 2010-2026 SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment SFRA Strategic Flood Risk Assessment SNCI Site of Nature Conservation Interest SPA Special Protection Area SPZ Groundwater Source Protection Zone SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest SuDS Sustainable drainage systems SWMP Surface Water Management Plan UKCP UK Climate Projections WFD Water Framework Directive Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 Figure 1.1: Sevenoaks District Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 1. Introduction Sevenoaks District Sevenoaks District is located in the western part of Kent with the edge of Greater London to the north, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south. The district covers approximately 370km2 and has three principle towns, Sevenoaks, Swanley and Edenbridge. Much of the area is rural in character with 93% designated as Green Belt and about 60% lying within the Kent Downs or High Weald Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. With a population of approximately 118,000 the district is a popular place to live with good links into London by train, as well as connections across the South East by road via the M25, M26, M20 motorways and the A21 and A25. Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 Sevenoaks District Council is currently preparing a new Local Plan to replace the Core Strategy (adopted Feb 2011) and the Allocations and Development Management Plan (adopted Feb 2015). The new Local Plan, which will cover the period to 2035, will include strategic and detailed planning and development management policies, land allocations for housing, employment and mixed use and identify areas in the district for protection. Key information relating to the Local Plan is presented in Table 1.1. Table 1.1: Key facts relating to the Sevenoaks Local Plan Name of Responsible Authority Sevenoaks District Council Title of Plan Sevenoaks Local Plan Subject Spatial plan Purpose The Sevenoaks Local Plan will set out the strategy for future growth within Sevenoaks District in the period to 2035. It will replace the adopted policies of previous Core Strategy (February 2011) and the Allocations and Development Management Plan (February 2015). Timescale To 2035 Area covered by the plan Sevenoaks District. (Figure 1.1) Summary of content The Sevenoaks Local Plan will present the spatial vision for the district, strategic planning policies, development management policies, site specific allocations and proposals maps. 1 Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 Name of Responsible Authority Sevenoaks District Council Plan contact point Helen French, Senior Planning officer Email address: [email protected] Sustainability Appraisal SA is a mechanism for considering and communicating the impacts of an emerging plan, and potential alternatives in terms of key sustainability issues. The aim of SA is to inform and influence the plan-making process with a view to avoiding and mitigating negative impacts. Through this approach, the SA for the Local Plan seeks to maximise the developing plan’s contribution to sustainable development. SA is undertaken to address the procedures prescribed by the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations) which transpose into national law the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive1. It also widens the scope of the assessment from focussing on environmental issues to further consider social and economic issues. SA is a legal requirement for Local Plans. The National Planning Practice Guidance states that “the role of the Sustainability Appraisal is to promote sustainable development by assessing the extent to which the emerging plan, when judged against reasonable alternatives, will help to achieve relevant environmental, economic and social objectives.” Two key procedural requirements of the SEA Directive are that: 1) A report (the ‘SA Report’) is published for consultation alongside the Draft Plan that presents an appraisal of the Draft Plan (i.e. discusses ‘likely significant effects’ that would result from plan implementation) and reasonable alternatives; and 2) When deciding on ‘the scope and level of detail of the information’ which must be included in the SA Report there is a consultation with nationally designated authorities concerned with environmental issues. This Scoping Report This Scoping Report is concerned with (2) above. It presents a suggested scope for the SA so that the nationally designated authorities (which, in England, are Natural England, the Environment Agency and Historic England) can provide timely comment. Approach to scoping Developing the draft scope presented in this report has involved the following steps: 1 Directive 2001/42/EC 2 Sevenoaks District Local Plan 2015-2035 SA Scoping Report Nov 2016 1. Exploring the environmental context for the SA, i.e. reviewing high level messages (e.g. from government departments and agencies in particular) with a view to gaining an understanding of broadly what the SA needs to focus on. 2. Establishing the baseline for the SA, i.e. the current and further situation in the area in the absence of the Local Plan, in order to help identify the plan’s likely significant effects. 3. Identifying particular problems or opportunities (‘issues’) that should be a particular focus of the SA. 4. Developing a SA Framework comprising objectives and appraisal questions on the basis of these issues which can then be used to appraise the draft plan. Structure of this report SA themes The outcomes of the scoping elements introduced through steps 1−4 above have been presented under a series of SA themes, as follows: Biodiversity Land, Soil and Water Resources Climate Change Population and Communities Landscape and Historic Health and Wellbeing Environment Transportation Environmental Quality Economy The selected SA themes incorporate the ‘SEA topics’ suggested by Annex I(f) of the SEA Directive2. These were refined to reflect a broad understanding of the anticipated scope of plan effects. It is intended that presenting the scoping information under these themes will help enable the reader to easily locate the information of greatest interest to them. Once agreed (i.e. subsequent to the current consultation), the suggested scope presented under nine themes will provide a methodological ‘framework’ for the appraisal of the draft plan and alternatives. The discussion of the scoping information under each SA theme has been presented in Sections 2 to 10. SA Framework to assess policy proposals The SA Framework provides a way in which sustainability effects can be defined and subsequently analysed based on standard ‘tests’. Each proposal put forward for the Local Plan can then be assessed consistently using the framework. 2 The SEA Directive is 'of a procedural nature' (para 9 of the Directive preamble) and does not set out to prescribe particular issues that should and should not be a focus, beyond requiring a focus on 'the environment, including on issues such as biodiversity, population, human health, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets, cultural heritage including