8 Socio-Economics
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8. Socio-Economics 8 SOCIO-ECONOMICS 8.1 Introduction 8.1.1 This chapter assesses the likely impacts of the Hinkley Point C Project on the local and regional economy and community. In particular, it considers the potential impacts of the Hinkley Point C Project on the local population level and structure, employment, local expenditure, effects on community facilities and services, and the provision of housing in the context of housing need. 8.1.2 The chapter also describes the planning policy context, methods used to assess the potential impacts, the baseline conditions, and the potential impacts of the construction and operational phases together with mitigation. 8.1.3 The socio-economic assessment is supported by a series of socio-economic studies undertaken by the Impacts Assessment Unit (IAU) at Oxford Brookes University, which focused primarily on detailing the local socio-economic baseline and the projection for the various Hinkley Point C Project stages; highlighting the likely benefits and disbenefits for both the construction and operational phases. 8.2 Scope of the Assessment 8.2.1 The socio-economic effects involve the people effects and socio-economic impact assessment involves a systematic advanced appraisal of the impacts on the day to day quality of life of people and communities when the environment is affected by a development. As such, sensitivities can also be defined in terms of the various groups and agencies likely to be affected by the proposed Hinkley Point C Development, these include: home-based workforce and employees (job opportunities); local employers (business opportunities and also competition for resources); local services (increased demand); local population (changes in level of local activity /traffic/ housing demand etc.); and local authorities and agencies at various levels of governance. 8.2.2 The early scoping phase to determine the socio-economic baseline and the projected requirements associated with the construction and operation of the Hinkley Point C Development identified that the key socio-economic impacts related to employment and expenditure, both locally and in the wider region. The scope of potential socio-economic impacts include: Demographic change; Direct and indirect employment change; Local expenditure effects ; Wider economic effects; Accommodation effects; Pressures on local social conditions and associated services; and Other less tangible socio-cultural change. HINKLEY POINT C PRE-APPLICATION CONSULTATION – STAGE 2 | 1 ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL – VOLUME 2 8. Socio-Economics 8.2.3 Further details on these potential socio-economic effects are provided in Section 8.4 below. 8.3 Legislation, Policy and Guidance 8.3.1 The EU Directive 85/337/EEC (as amended) requires a description of possible impacts on human beings and Annex III sets out the information that should be provided including likely significant effects on the ‘population’. These requirements have been enacted in the EIA Regulations which require the ES to include: ‘A description of the aspects of the environment likely to be significantly affected by the development, including, in particular, population, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets, including the architectural and archaeological heritage, landscape and the inter-relationship between the above factors.’ 8.3.2 In the Lisbon Declaration (European Council, 2000) (Ref. 8.1), the main dimensions of social sustainability were seen as: education, employment policy (to create more and better jobs), modernising social protection, and the promotion of equality to counter poverty and social exclusion. 8.3.3 Unlike many other topic areas, there is no legislation which specifies detailed content for socio- economic assessments or appropriate standards and thresholds. However, it is a growing area of activity in impact assessment, and there are a number of documents providing guidance on the scope of the socio-economic impact assessment, including: Department of the Environment (DoE) Environmental Assessment: a guide to the procedures, 1989 (Ref. 8.2); Inter-organisational Committee on Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment (ICGPS) Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment , 1994 (Ref 8.3); Vanclay, F Principles for social impact assessment: A critical comparison between international and US documents, 2003 (Ref. 8.4); Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) Creating, using and updating a neighbourhood baseline, 2004 (Ref. 8.5); Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Environmental Impact Assessment: A Guide to Good Practice and Procedures, 2006 (Ref. 8.6); Glasson, J. Socio-economic Impacts 1: Economic Impacts, 2009 (Ref. 8.7); and Chadwick, A. Socio-economic Impacts 2: Social Impacts, 2009 (Ref 8.8). 8.4 Approach and Methodology 8.4.1 The methodology involves an in-depth analysis to determine the local area socio-economic baseline; identification of the characteristics of the Hinkley Point C Project and relevant policies; followed by an assessment of the likely impacts; and identification of appropriate mitigation of any negative impacts and enhancement of any positive impacts. a) Key Determinants of Impacts 8.4.2 Local socio-economic impacts are the result of the interaction between a development and the local area, in this case Somerset and constituent districts. The nature of the socio-economic impacts is influenced by: the nature of the development and its varying socio-economic and other characteristics over its life-cycle; 2 | HINKLEY POINT C PRE-APPLICATION CONSULTATION – STAGE 2 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT – VOLUME 2 8. Socio-Economics the socio-characteristics of the relevant local areas; and any associated promoter policies (e.g. promoter policy on provision of local accommodation centres); and local area policies 8.4.3 Figure 8.1 provides a simplified overview of an ‘impacts model’, showing the central influence of project labour requirements. These may be modified by promoter and or contractor policies (e.g. on accommodation, travel and training), plus conditions in the local area (e.g. unemployment levels, skills and training provision, and accommodation and local services). b) Baseline Study 8.4.4 A baseline study has been undertaken to establish the extent and characteristics of the study areas, this included: baseline data collection for the local area, using published /semi-published sources, and development of an initial framework of key elements in the socio-economic baseline; socio-economic Topic Group Workshops with local stakeholders (including District and County Councils, the Learning and Skills Council, the Regional Development Agency, local service providers) to further develop understanding of scope of baseline and likely key issues; development of framework and key elements, with data searches, survey work and consultations, to provide a comprehensive local area socio-economic baseline on likely key local impact topic areas and issues; identification of existing power station socio-economic characteristics (i.e. Hinkley Point A decommissioning projects and Hinkley Point B current operational station); and identification of likely socio-economic characteristics of the new Hinkley Point C Development. i) Study Area 8.4.5 The spatial/geographic scope of the socio-economic baseline studies varies by phase of the project (i.e. the site preparation and construction phase, and the operational phase) and also by impact category. The following describes the geographic areas which have been used in the baseline studies for each impact topic. The precise areas used are partly influenced by data availability and in some cases also reflect the boundaries of relevant service planning areas e.g. for school or health facilities. ii) Construction Phase 8.4.6 For the local labour market for construction phase, a Construction Daily Commuting Zone (CDCZ) has been defined. In the first instance, the CDCZ is defined as the local authority districts within an approximate 90 minute commute time (approximately 50-55 miles) of the Hinkley Point C Development Site. As detailed in Table 8.1, this area extends to include the following district or unitary authorities: Somerset County including Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset districts; the West of England area including Bath and North East Somerset, City of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire unitary authorities; and a number of districts in Devon including East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon and Teignbridge; West Dorset district; and Newport unitary authority in Wales. HINKLEY POINT C PRE-APPLICATION CONSULTATION – STAGE 2 | 3 ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL – VOLUME 2 8. Socio-Economics Table 8.1: Administrative and Other Geographies used to define the Construction Daily Commuting Zone (CDCZ) Geography Area(s) Administrative Local Authority Districts West Somerset; Sedgemoor Local Education Authority Somerset NHS Primary Care Trust Somerset PCT Learning and Skills Council Dorset and Somerset Sub-Regional Economic Partnership Somerset Government Office Region South West Labour Market 2001-Based Travel to Work Area (TTWA) Bridgwater 2001-Based TTWA’s within 90 Minute Barnstaple; Bath; Bridgwater; Bridport and Lyme Regis; Drive Time Bristol; Exeter and Newton Abbot; Honiton and Axminster; Minehead; Newport and Cwmbran; Okehampton; Shaftesbury and Blandford Forum (part of); Taunton; Tiverton; Wells & Shepton Mallet; Yeovil and Chard Local Authority Districts within