Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Durham City Neighbourhood Plan SA Report to accompany the Submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan City of Durham Parish Council October 2019 Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Durham SA Report City Neighbourhood Plan Quality information Prepared by Checked by Verified by Approved by Rosie Cox Alastair Peattie Nick Chisholm-Batten Nick Chisholm-Batten Environmental Planner Associate Director Associate Director Associate Director Revision History Revision Revision date Details Name Position V1 02/09/19 Submission version for client Rosie Cox Environmental Planner comment V2 02/10/19 Updated submission version Rosie Cox Environmental Planner Prepared for: City of Durham Parish Council Prepared by: AECOM Limited 3rd Floor, Portwall Place Portwall Lane Bristol BS1 6NA United Kingdom T: +44 117 901 7000 aecom.com © 2019 AECOM Limited. All Rights Reserved. This document has been prepared by AECOM Limited (“AECOM”) in accordance with its contract with Locality (the “Client”) and in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. AECOM shall have no liability to any third party that makes use of or relies upon this document. Prepared for: City of Durham Parish Council AECOM Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Durham SA Report City Neighbourhood Plan Table of Contents Non-technical summary ........................................................................................................................ i 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 2. Local Plan context and vision for the DCNP ......................................................................... 6 3. The Scope of the SA ................................................................................................................ 9 SA Scoping Report ................................................................................................................................ 9 4. What has plan making / SA involved to this point? ............................................................ 19 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Overview of plan making/ SA work undertaken since 2014 ........................................................... 19 Assessment of reasonable alternatives for the DCNP .................................................................... 19 Preliminary assessment of the Pre-Submission DCNP .................................................................. 44 5. What are the appraisal findings at this current stage? ...................................................... 45 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 45 Appraisal method ................................................................................................................................ 45 Appraisal of the Neighbourhood Plan .............................................................................................. 45 Air quality ............................................................................................................................................. 45 Biodiversity and geodiversity ............................................................................................................ 46 Climate change .................................................................................................................................... 47 Landscape and historic environment ............................................................................................... 48 Land, soil and water resources ......................................................................................................... 50 Population and community ................................................................................................................ 50 Health and wellbeing .......................................................................................................................... 52 Transportation ..................................................................................................................................... 54 Conclusions at this current stage ..................................................................................................... 55 6. What are the next steps?....................................................................................................... 56 Plan finalisation ................................................................................................................................... 56 Monitoring ............................................................................................................................................ 56 Appendix A Context review and baseline ......................................................................................... 59 Prepared for: City of Durham Parish Council AECOM Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Durham Non-Technical Summary City Neighbourhood Plan Non-technical summary What is a Sustainability Appraisal? A sustainability appraisal (SA) has been undertaken to inform the Durham City Neighbourhood Plan (DCNP). This process is required by the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations. Neighbourhood Plan groups use SA to assess Neighbourhood Plans against a set of sustainability objectives developed in consultation with interested parties. The purpose of the assessment is to avoid adverse environmental and socio-economic effects through the Neighbourhood Plan and identify opportunities to improve the environmental quality of the area covered by the Neighbourhood Plan and the quality of life of residents. What is the Durham City Neighbourhood Plan? The DCNP presents a plan for the City of Durham for the period to 2035. The area covered by the DCNP is shown in Figure 1. The area is centred on the historic core of the City, designated as a World Heritage Site (WHS), and includes Durham Cathedral and Castle situated above the incised banks of the River Wear. The DCNP area includes the wards of Neville's Cross, Elvet & Gilesgate and the part of Durham South that is on the city side of the River Wear. Prepared to be in conformity with the 2004 City of Durham Local Plan, and the emerging County Durham Plan (CDP) 2016 – 2035, it sets out a vision and a range of policies for the DCNP area. These relate to a range of topics, including creating a diverse and resilient economy which is supported by attractive, healthy and affordable places to live, and improving and protecting the area’s natural, built and historic environment. It is currently anticipated that the DCNP will undergo referendum later in 2019. Purpose of this SA Report This SA Report, which accompanies the Submission version of the DCNP, is the latest document to be produced as part of the SA process. The first document was the SA Scoping Report (October 2017), which includes information about the DCNP area’s environment and community. The second document was the SA Report accompanying Regulation 14 consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan (April 2019). The purpose of this SA Report is to: ─ Identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects of the DCNP and alternatives; and ─ Provide an opportunity for consultees to offer views on any aspect of the SA process which has been carried out to date. The SA Report contains: ─ An outline of the contents and main objectives of the DCNP and its relationship with other relevant policies, plans and programmes; ─ Relevant aspects of the current and future state of the environment and key sustainability issues; ─ The SA Framework of objectives against which the DCNP has been assessed; ─ The appraisal of alternative approaches for the DCNP; ─ The likely significant environmental effects of the DCNP; ─ The measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and as fully as possible offset any significant adverse effects as a result of the DCNP; and ─ The next steps for the DCNP and accompanying SA process. Prepared for: City of Durham Parish Council AECOM i Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Durham Non-Technical Summary City Neighbourhood Plan Assessment of reasonable alternatives for the DCNP A key element of the SEA process is the appraisal of ‘reasonable alternatives’ for the DCNP. The SEA Regulations are not prescriptive as to what constitutes a reasonable alternative, stating only that the Environmental Report should present an appraisal of the ‘plan and reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and geographical scope of the plan’. Chapter 4 of this SA Report therefore describe how the SA process to date has informed the preferred development strategy for the DCNP area. As the delivery of new development through the DCNP is what is most likely to have a significant effect on SA objectives, it was determined that this issue should be the primary focus of the consideration of alternatives through the SA process. The potential sites and spatial strategy options (packages of sites) for delivering development in line with the DCNP objectives, will directly or indirectly influence