Sustainability Report Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Area Development Framework for Salisbury District Council, Wiltshire County Council and the South West Regional Development Agency June 2007 thinking beyond construction WHITE YOUNG GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL SALISBURY DISTRICT COUNCIL/WILTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL/SOUTH WEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL OF THE SALISBURY VISION AREA DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK SUSTAINABILITY REPORT JUNE 2007 CONTENTS Page No 1.0 NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Development of the Sustainability Appraisal Framework 1 1.3 Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Options 1 1.4 Development of the Preferred Option 2 1.5 Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Area Development Framework 2 2.0 INTRODUCTION 5 3.0 SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL PROCESS 7 3.1 Requirement for Sustainability Appraisal 7 3.2 Sustainability Appraisal Regulations and Guidance 7 3.3 Sustainability Appraisal Stages 8 3.4 Stage A - Scoping Stage 8 3.5 Stages B and C 12 4.0 BACKGROUND 13 4.1 Salisbury Vision Area 13 4.2 Salisbury District Local Development Framework 13 4.3 Salisbury Vision Area Development Framework 14 5.0 BASELINE AND KEY ISSUES 20 5.1 Introduction 20 5.2 Socio-Economic Baseline 21 5.3 Environmental Baseline 28 5.4 Summary of Key Sustainability Issues 37 6.0 SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL OF THE SALISBURY VISION OPTIONS 44 6.1 Introduction 44 6.2 Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Options 44 6.3 Outcomes of the Options Appraisal 46 6.4 Development of the Preferred Option 46 7.0 COMPATIBILITY TEST 49 8.0 SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS OF THE SALISBURY VISION AREA DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK 50 8.1 Introduction 50 8.2 Appraisal Methodology 50 8.3 Significant Effects of the Salisbury Vision Area Development Framework 52 8.4 Mitigation 69 9.0 IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING 72 9.1 Next Steps 72 9.2 Links to the Planning Process 72 9.3 Proposals for Monitoring 72 Salisbury District Council/Wiltshire County Council/South West Regional Development Agency Sustainability Report Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision ADF June 2007 i WHITE YOUNG GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL FIGURES Figure 1 - Salisbury Vision Area and Key Sites Figure 2 - Salisbury Middle Layer Super Output Areas Figure 3 - Salisbury Lower Layer Super Output Areas APPENDICES Appendix A - Report Conditions Appendix B - Scoping Stage Consultation Responses Appendix C - Options Appraisal Matrices Appendix D - Options Appraisal Consultation Responses Appendix E - Compatibility Test Appendix F - Sustainability Appraisal Matrices Appendix G - Targets and Indicators Salisbury District Council/Wiltshire County Council/South West Regional Development Agency Sustainability Report Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision ADF June 2007 ii WHITE YOUNG GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL 1.0 NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY 1.1 Introduction Salisbury District is situated in Wiltshire in the South West of England. A Local Development Framework (LDF) is currently being developed by Salisbury District Council (as the Local Planning Authority for Salisbury District). The LDF will replace the existing Adopted Local Plan in setting out guidelines for the future development of the Salisbury District. As part of the LDF evidence base Gillespies LLP (supported by Alder King, Savills, White Young Green (WYG), DTZ Pieda Consulting and BDOR Limited) has been commissioned by a partnership of Salisbury District Council, Wiltshire County Council and the South West Regional Development Agency to prepare an Area Development Framework (ADF) for Salisbury City Centre entitled the Salisbury Vision. The ADF is intended to feature prominently within the wider Area Action Plan (AAP) being pursued by Salisbury District Council for the whole of Salisbury as part of its emerging LDF. In this respect, the process necessary in conducting an AAP both through the level of consultation required and integral Sustainability Appraisal (SA) has been followed. SA is a process through which the sustainability of a plan under preparation is assessed. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) requires Local Planning Authorities to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal of their LDF documents. This is to compel Local Planning Authorities to work towards achieving sustainable development. SA addresses social, economic and environmental issues in an integrated manner. Under the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations (2004) it is a requirement that plans (setting out a framework for development and likely to have significant environmental effects) are subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Local Planning Authorities are also required to carry out SEA of their LDF documents under these regulations. White Young Green Environmental (WYGE) has been commissioned to undertake a combined SA and SEA of the Salisbury Vision ADF. The combined approach to SA adopted by WYGE is simply referred to as SA throughout this Sustainability Report. 1.2 Development of the Sustainability Appraisal Framework In August 2006 a SA Framework was developed by WYGE. The development of the SA Framework resulted in the production of a SA Scoping Report, which details the outcomes of the following activities: • Consultation with key stakeholders via questionnaire; • Review of other plans and programmes of relevance to the Salisbury Vision; • Collation of social, economic and environmental baseline data on Salisbury; • Identification of key sustainability issues; and • Development of SA objectives. The SA Scoping Report was published for consultation (and sent to statutory and non statutory consultees) in August 2006. 1.3 Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Options Gillespies LLP produced three potential options for the Salisbury Vision ADF following completion of the scoping stage of the SA and consultation with key stakeholders. The SA Framework developed at the scoping stage was used to appraise the three options for the Salisbury Vision ADF produced by Gillespies LLP and the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario, which represents maintenance of the status quo. Salisbury District Council/Wiltshire County Council/South West Regional Development Agency Sustainability Report Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision ADF June 2007 1 WHITE YOUNG GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL The SA identified a number of likely social, economic and environmental effects associated with the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario and the three options proposed by Gillespies LLP, both beneficial and adverse. The ‘Business as Usual’ scenario was considered to offer no opportunities to improve or enhance the Salisbury Vision area and ensures only a basic level of protection. Option 1 was considered to be similar to Option 0 but offers some opportunities to improve the Salisbury Vision area, depending upon its implementation. Potential benefits include improved access to natural greenspace, which could have associated health and recreational benefits, and improvements and enhancement of the landscape of the Salisbury Vision area. However, Option 1 does not propose any significant development, which may encourage development of greenfield land elsewhere. Similarly, Option 1 does not propose provision of affordable housing or new services and facilities, therefore moves away from SA objectives relating to housing and services provision. Options 2 and 3 offer significant opportunities to improve and enhance the Salisbury Vision area, including addressing issues of affordable housing, transport, provision of green space and improvement to landscape/ecology/rivers in the Salisbury Vision area. But again the outcome will depend upon its implementation. Negative aspects of Options 2 and 3 include potential adverse impacts of development on landscape, biodiversity and geodiversity, and flooding in the Salisbury Vision area. The findings of the options appraisal were provided to the project team. In addition, the options appraisal was sent to statutory and non statutory consultees. 1.4 Development of the Preferred Option Following the development of three potential options for the Salisbury Vision ADF a public exhibition was held to determine which was the most preferable. A further workshop was then undertaken in October 2006. The main purpose of the workshop was to use the findings of the public exhibition to aid Gillespies LLP in the development of the preferred option and inform the preparation of the ADF. 1.5 Sustainability Appraisal of the Salisbury Vision Area Development Framework The SA Framework was used to appraise two options; implementation of the Salisbury Vision ADF as set out by Gillespies LLP and the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario. The SA identified a number of likely social, economic and environmental effects associated with implementation of the Salisbury Vision ADF. Effects were identified as being of a beneficial, adverse or unknown nature. Potential beneficial effects of the Salisbury Vision ADF (not an exhaustive list) include: • Provision of decent, accessible and affordable housing at a number of key sites, which will ensure housing needs are met; • Improvements to the existing public transport network within the Salisbury Vision area, including new services and the development of a new Station Interchange at Salisbury Railway Station; • Implementation of a traffic management strategy intended to re-route circulating traffic around Salisbury City Centre and rationalisation of car parking throughout, which will make the City Centre more pedestrian/cyclist orientated; • Improvements and enhancements