Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Statement Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy Tionól Reigiúnach Oirthir agus Lár-Tíre Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly REPORT Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2 SUMMARY OF KEY FACTS ................................................................................................................... 2 3 SUMMARY OF SEA PROCESS AND WORK TO DATE ........................................................................ 3 3.1 Key Stages in the RSES Process .................................................................................................. 3 3.2 Screening ....................................................................................................................................... 3 3.3 Scoping and Statutory Consultation ............................................................................................... 4 3.4 Environmental Assessment and Environmental Report ................................................................ 5 3.4.1 Summary of Assessment .................................................................................................. 5 3.4.2 Statutory Consultation on the Draft Plan and SEA Documentation ................................10 3.5 SEA Statement .............................................................................................................................11 3.6 Appropriate Assessment ..............................................................................................................11 3.7 Adoption of the Eastern & Midland Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy .............................11 4 INTEGRATION OF THE SEA PROCESS .............................................................................................12 4.1 How Environmental Considerations have been Implemented .....................................................12 4.2 Integration of Environmental Report ............................................................................................13 5 INFLUENCE OF SUBMISSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE FINAL RSES ..............................14 5.1 EMRA Issues Paper .....................................................................................................................14 5.2 Scoping Phase .............................................................................................................................14 5.3 Key Issues Raised in Public Consultation on the Draft RSES .....................................................25 5.3.1 Statutory Submissions on the Draft RSES .....................................................................25 5.3.2 Transboundary Submissions on the Draft RSES ...........................................................34 5.3.3 Other Environmental Submissions on the Draft RSES...................................................36 5.4 Key Issues Raised in Public Consultation on the Material Amendments to the Draft RSES ......44 5.4.1 Submissions from Statutory Consultees .........................................................................45 5.4.2 Transboundary Submissions ..........................................................................................50 5.4.3 Other Environmental Submissions .................................................................................51 6 PREFERRED SCENARIO AND REASONS FOR CHOOSING ............................................................53 6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................53 6.2 Approach to Alternatives for the Draft RSES ...............................................................................53 6.2.1 Spatial Based Alternatives ..............................................................................................54 6.2.2 Climate Based Scenarios ...............................................................................................58 6.2.3 Economic Based Scenarios ............................................................................................60 6.3 Policy Alternatives ........................................................................................................................61 6.3.1 Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy ...................................................................61 6.3.2 Key Regional Infrastructure ............................................................................................62 6.3.3 Natural Capital ................................................................................................................63 6.3.4 Energy Alternatives .........................................................................................................64 6.3.5 Transport Alternatives .....................................................................................................65 6.4 Preferred Alternative and Reasons for Choosing ........................................................................65 7 MEASURES TO MONITOR SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ADOPTED RSES ...................................................................................66 7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................66 7.2 Responsibility for Monitoring ........................................................................................................66 7.3 Sources of Information for Monitoring ..........................................................................................66 8 CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS .....................................................................................................71 9 ADDENDUM TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ............................................................................72 9.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................72 9.2 Amendments by Chapter .............................................................................................................72 MDR1402 | SEA Statement for the EMRA RSES | F01 | 24 June 2019 rpsgroup.com Page iii REPORT 9.2.1 Non-technical Summary .................................................................................................72 9.2.2 Chapter 4 (Other Plans and Programmes) .....................................................................72 9.2.3 Chapter 5 (Characteristics of the Current State of the Environment - Baseline) ............73 9.2.4 Chapter 8 (Assessment of Preferred Scenario) ..............................................................76 9.2.5 Chapter 10 (Mitigation and Monitoring) ..........................................................................76 Tables Table 3.1: Key Stages in the Plan and Consultation Process ............................................................................ 3 Table 3.2: Consultees in SEA Scoping ............................................................................................................... 4 Table 3.3: Strategic Environmental Objectives .................................................................................................. 5 Table 3.4: Summary of Measures and Assessment ........................................................................................... 8 Table 4.1: How Environmental Considerations Have Been Taken into Account in the RSES .........................12 Table 5.1: Summary of Themes Raised in Submissions on the EMRA Issues Paper .....................................14 Table 5.2: Summary of Issues Raised during SEA Scoping ............................................................................16 Table 5.3: Draft RSES - Summary of Submissions from the Statutory Consultees .........................................26 Table 5.4: Draft RSES - Summary of Transboundary Submissions ................................................................34 Table 5.5: Draft RSES - Summary of Key Environmental Issues for the SEA, AA and RFRA ........................36 Table 5.6: Draft RSES - Summary of Other Key Environmental Issues ..........................................................38 Table 5.7: Material Amendments - Summary of Environmental Issues from the Statutory Consultees ..........45 Table 5.8: Material Amendments - Summary of Environmental Issues from Transboundary Submissions .................................................................................................................................50 Table 5.9: Material Amendments - Summary of Environmental Issues from Other Submissions ...................51 Table 6.1: Alternatives Discussed for the draft Eastern and Midland RSES ....................................................54 Table 7.1: Environmental Monitoring Programme ............................................................................................67 Appendices Appendix A Environmental Mitigation Measures and how these have been addressed in the RSES Appendix B SEA/ AA/ RFRA Assessment of the Proposed Material Amendments to Draft RSES MDR1402 | SEA Statement for the EMRA RSES | F01 | 24 June 2019 rpsgroup.com Page iv REPORT 1 INTRODUCTION The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA) is currently preparing a Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy 2019-2031 (hereafter referred to