Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan Strategic Environmental Assessment Objectives and Guiding Questions SEA Objectives Guiding Questions
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Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) & Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Environmental Report Final Report A Report for Alnwick Town Council Prepared by the Communities & Infrastructure Team, Northumberland County Council 03 September 2015 1 Prepared by: Rob Naples Planning Officer Communities & Infrastructure Team Strategic Planning & Housing Northumberland County Council Checked by: Approved by: Version Comments Prepared by Checked by Approved by Date v0.01 Initial Draft RN 29/04/2015 v0.02 Second Draft, taking RN 10/06/2015 account of feedback from Neighbourhood Plan Group. v0.03 Final Report for RN DE DE 24/06/2015 consultation v0.04 Final Report taking RN 03/09/2015 Final account of Report consultation responses 2 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................... 3 Non-technical summary ........................................................................................... 7 Summary of assessment of plan aims and policies ............................................... 9 Environmental baseline information ..................................................................... 10 Identifying the effects of the Neighbourhood Plan Submission Document ........... 12 Evaluation of the Neighbourhood Plan Submission Document ............................ 12 Assessment topic summaries .............................................................................. 12 Sustainable Development .................................................................................. 13 Housing .............................................................................................................. 13 Economy & Employment .................................................................................... 13 Town Centre & Retail ......................................................................................... 13 Community Facilities .......................................................................................... 13 Transport ........................................................................................................... 14 Environment ....................................................................................................... 14 Heritage, Design & Culture ................................................................................ 14 Consultation ......................................................................................................... 14 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 17 Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Area ......................................................... 19 Policy Context ...................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2: Methodology ........................................................................................ 25 Approach taken to carrying out the SEA .............................................................. 25 Evaluation of the Submission Draft Plan .............................................................. 25 Evaluating the effects of Submission Draft Plan .................................................. 25 The SEA framework ............................................................................................. 26 Relationship with other plans and programmes ................................................... 26 Environmental Baseline Information .................................................................... 27 Definition of the SEA framework .......................................................................... 27 Chapter 3: Summary of SEA context and objectives (SEA Stage A) ................. 31 Key Environmental Protection Objectives ............................................................ 31 Review of baseline information ............................................................................ 55 Land and Soil ..................................................................................................... 56 Wildlife and Habitats .......................................................................................... 57 Landscape ......................................................................................................... 64 3 Water Resources and Flooding ......................................................................... 71 Heritage ............................................................................................................. 76 Population .......................................................................................................... 79 Housing .............................................................................................................. 80 Economy and Employment ................................................................................ 83 Chapter 4: Assessment of Neighbourhood Plan aims and alternatives ............ 87 Assessment of Neighbourhood Plan Aims ........................................................... 87 Assessment of Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan Aims ........................ 88 Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan Reasonable Alternatives – Housing . 89 Housing Site Assessments .................................................................................. 91 Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan Reasonable Alternatives – Employment .......................................................................................................... 99 Employment Site Assessments .......................................................................... 101 Chapter 5: Assessment of Neighbourhood Plan policies ................................. 105 Assessment of policies ....................................................................................... 106 Sustainable Development ................................................................................ 106 Housing ............................................................................................................ 107 Economy and Employment .............................................................................. 108 Town Centre and Retail ................................................................................... 109 Community Facilities ........................................................................................ 110 Transport ......................................................................................................... 111 Environment ..................................................................................................... 112 Heritage, Design and Culture ........................................................................... 114 Assessment of the cumulative effects of the Neighbourhood Plan .................... 116 Cumulative assessment of whole Plan against SEA objectives ......................... 117 Cumulative assessment of Plan topic areas against SEA Objectives ................ 123 Chapter 6: Monitoring arrangements ................................................................. 131 Strategic Environmental Assessment Objectives, guiding questions and potential monitoring indicators ........................................................................................... 132 Baseline Monitoring Recommendations covering SEA Directive Required Considerations .................................................................................................... 137 Chapter 7: Next Steps .......................................................................................... 143 Appendix A: Northumberland County Council Screening Opinion ................. 145 Does the Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan require Strategic Environmental Assessment? .............................................................................. 145 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 145 Background ...................................................................................................... 145 Consideration ................................................................................................... 145 4 Annex A to Screening Opinion ......................................................................... 146 Appendix B: Residential site assessment template .......................................... 151 Appendix C: Employment site assessment template ....................................... 161 Appendix D: Responses to SEA Environmental Report Consultation, July 2015 ............................................................................................................................... 163 Appendix E: Summary of amendments to the SEA Environmental Report .... 175 5 6 Non-technical summary 0.01 This is the non-technical summary of the Environmental Report for the Alnwick and Denwick Neighbourhood Plan (ADNP). Neighbourhood Planning was introduced through the Localism Act in 2011 and gives local communities the opportunity to shape and define how their area should grow and change in the future. In Northumberland, Neighbourhood Planning must be led by Town or Parish Councils since there is no scope for Neighbourhood Forums. 0.02 This section of the Report provides a summary in non-technical language of the Environmental Report. The purpose of the Environmental Report is to provide information about, and an assessment of, the potential environmental