Environmental Report Documenting the Strategic Environmental Assessment Of the Draft Mayo County Development Plan 2014 - 2020 _________________________________________________ In accordance with Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive) Mayo County Council February 2013 Includes Ordnance Survey Ireland data reproduced under OSi Licence number 2013/17 CCMA / Mayo County Council. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Ordnance Survey Ireland and Government of Ireland copyright. © Ordnance Survey Ireland, 2013. Table of Contents Non-Technical Summary . i 1 SEA Introduction and context . 1 1.1 Introduction and terms of reference . 1 1.2 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) . .1 1.3 SEA legislation. .1 1.4 SEA Process. .2 1.5 Implications for Mayo County Council and the CDP . 3 2 Strategic Environmental Assessment Methodology . 4 2.1 Introduction. 4 2.2 Stages of SEA. .4 2.3 Screening. 4 2.4 Scoping. .5 2.5 Further consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency . 7 2.6 Baseline environmental data and its likely evolution. 8 2.7 Evaluation of alternative plans. 8 2.8 Documenting the SEA process. 9 2.9 Difficulties encountered. 9 3 Context of the Mayo County Development Plan 2014 – 2020 . 10 3.1 Introduction. 10 3.2 Content, policies and objectives of the draft CDP. .11 3.3 The relationship of the draft CDP with other relevant plans and programmes . 12 3.3.1 National Policy. 13 3.3.2 Regional Policy. 15 3.3.3 Local Policy . .16 3.4 Legislative context. 17 4 The Baseline Environment . .19 4.1 Introduction. 19 4.2 Biodiversity, fauna and flora. 19 4.2.1 Introduction. 19 4.2.2 Baseline environment. 19 4.2.3 Existing problems. 30 4.2.4 Likely Evolution of Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna in absence of Mayo County Development Plan. 31 4.3 Population. .32 4.3.1 Baseline environment. 32 4.3.2 Existing problems. 33 4.3.3 Likely Evolution of Population in absence of Mayo County Development Plan 33 4.4 Human health. .34 4.4.1 Introduction. .34 4.4.2 Baseline environment . 34 4.4.3 Existing problems . 35 4.4.4 Likely Evolution of Human Health in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. .38 4.5 Soils and geology. 38 4.5.1 Introduction. .38 4.5.2 Baseline environment. 39 4.5.3 Existing problems. 43 4.5.4 Likely Evolution of Soils and Geology in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. .44 4.6 Water. .. .45 4.6.1 Introduction. .45 4.6.2 Baseline environment. 45 4.6.3 Existing problems. 53 4.6.4 Likely Evolution of Water in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. .54 4.7 Air and Noise. .55 4.7.1 Introduction. .55 4.7.2 Baseline environment. 55 4.7.3 Existing problems. 62 4.7.4 Likely Evolution of Air and Noise in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. 63 4.8 Climatic Factors. 66 4.8.1 Introduction. .66 4.8.2 Baseline environment. 66 4.8.3 Existing problems. 67 4.8.4 Likely Evolution of Climatic Factors in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. .68 4.9 Material assets. .68 4.9.1 Introduction. .68 4.9.2 Baseline environment. 69 4.9.3 Existing problems. 78 4.9.4 Likely Evolution of Material Assets in the absence of the Mayo County Development Plan. .82 4.10 Cultural heritage. .. ..