Birmingham City Council Sustainability Appraisal of the Birmingham Development Plan Revised Sustainability Report June 2015 Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited © Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited Report for Copyright and non-disclosure notice Martin Eade The contents and layout of this report are subject to copyright Planning Strategy owned by Amec Foster Wheeler (© Amec Foster Wheeler Birmingham City Council Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited 2015). save to the 1 Lancaster Circus extent that copyright has been legally assigned by us to Birmingham another party or is used by Amec Foster Wheeler under B4 7DJ licence. To the extent that we own the copyright in this report, it may not be copied or used without our prior written agreement for any purpose other than the purpose indicated in this report. 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L20904R032 i © Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited Non-Technical Summary Outline of the Birmingham Development Plan and its Sustainability Appraisal This document is a revised Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Report prepared to accompany the Submission version of the Birmingham Development Plan (BDP). The regulations contained within the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act and the guidance set out in the NPPF identify that SAs should meet the requirements of EU Directive 2001/42/EC, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), otherwise known as the ‘SEA Directive’. The SEA Directive requires the iterative assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment. In this context, the Directive’s main areas of emphasis are to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans to promote sustainable development. The purpose of the SA Report is to promote sustainable development through the integration of sustainability considerations into proposed BDP. This SA Report reports the results of the assessment and sets out proposed mitigation measures to enhance the sustainability performance of the BDP and a monitoring framework to track the performance of the BDP against significant sustainability issues identified as part of the assessment. This SA Report is the latest stage in the appraisal process which has accompanied the evolution of the Birmingham Development Plan, the previous reports being: Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (2006, revised 2010 and 2012); Interim Sustainability Appraisal of Issues and Options (2008); Interim Sustainability Appraisal of Preferred Options (2010); Interim Sustainability Appraisal of Options Consultation (December 2012); and Interim Sustainability Appraisal of Proposed Site Allocations (September 2013). Final Sustainability Report of the Birmingham Development Plan (June 2014) and Sustainability Appraisal of Proposed Site Allocations (June 2014) Sustainability characteristics of the plan area The following sustainability issues are of particular relevance to the appraisal of the BDP: Sustainability Topic Key Sustainability Issues Resource Use New additional water management measures or water resources needed to ensure there is sufficient water for new housing proposed. Sustainable Design, There are several examples of good design in Birmingham, but more could be done in the future to regenerate Construction and certain parts of the City. Maintenance Sustainable Design, Construction and Maintenance is linked to issues related to energy efficiency, climate change mitigation and adaptation and housing. Renewable Energy & Use of renewable energy could be significantly improved. Recent developments have shown evidence of energy Energy Efficiency efficiency, but the large number of old properties in the City will need improving to make them more energy efficient, building on current initiatives. Energy Efficiency is linked to issues related to renewable energy, sustainable design construction and maintenance, housing and social and environmental responsibility. June 2015 Doc Ref. L20904R032 ii © Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited Sustainability Topic Key Sustainability Issues Sustainable Transport & Although the city has good public transport infrastructure, it needs expanding and upgrading to help minimise the Reducing the Need to high level of car use in Birmingham. Emphasis will be placed on ‘smarter travel’, discouraging unnecessary Travel journeys and encouraging people to use public transport. Congestion is a significant issue at certain times on both road and rail. Sustainable Transport is linked to issues related to air quality, reducing the need to travel, health, climate change mitigation and adaptation. A very small proportion of people who work and live in the city (one tenth) work from home and therefore avoid travelling to work. There is little evidence of people being actively encouraged to work from home. More emphasis needs to be placed on ‘smarter travel’, discouraging unnecessary journeys and encouraging people to use public transport. Waste Reduction and Landfill diversion rates are increasing in the City, and past targets for recycling have been met. Minimisation Efficient Use of Land Good use is being made of previously developed land as a very high proportion of new housing and office development has taken place on previously developed land. Reducing and Birmingham’s residents and businesses emit over 6.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year. If global emissions are not Managing Climate reduced Birmingham could see average annual temperatures rise by 1.5oC by 2020 and winter rise by 1.3oC and Change 3.7oC and 2.9oC 4.5oC by 2080. Birmingham City Council has a good record of taking on board Environment Agency comments in terms of permitting development in flood risk areas. There is limited information on this objective although it is recognised by the City Council that measures will need to be put in place to manage the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Reducing and managing climate change are linked to issues related to sustainable transport, reducing the need to travel, air quality, biodiversity health and natural landscape. Sense of Place Birmingham people are positive about their city; according to the Community Cohesion Strategy, opinion polls show that three quarters of people think it is a good place to live. No public open space is currently being lost, and environmental improvements have been made and continue to be made to various parts of the City. Sense of Place is linked to issues related to built and historic environment, natural landscape, housing, health, biodiversity, culture, sport and recreation and crime. Built and Historic Birmingham has a large amount of land designated as Conservation Areas, some of which are nationally Environment recognised such as the Jewellery Quarter and Bourneville. The City also has an extensive number of archaeological remains Listed Buildings and Registered Parks & Gardens. Landscape, Although much of Birmingham is built up, there is a significant amount of open land within the City including areas Biodiversity and of agricultural land to the north-east and south west of the City. The City falls within the National Character Areas Geodiversity (NCAs) of Arden to the south and Cannock Chase and Cank Wood to the north. The assessment of these areas for the Countryside Quality Counts project for Natural England indicates that they are subject to a high rate of change. Most of Birmingham is built up, but 15% of the City is designated as Green Belt. The City has 2 SSSIs and a number of other designated sites which cover approximately 10% of the City. There is one Local Nature Reserve