Somerset County Council Somerset Transport Policies Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report Appendix 1 (Topic Paper 1 Health) Prepared for: Somerset County Council Taunton Prepared by: ENVIRON Exeter, UK Date: October 2010 Project or Issue Number: UK1815830 Contract/Proposal No: UK1815830 Issue: 2 Author (signature): Project Manager/Director (signature): Date: October 2010 This report has been prepared by ENVIRON with all reasonable skill, care and diligence, and taking account of the Services and the Terms agreed between ENVIRON and the Client. This report is confidential to the client, and ENVIRON accepts no responsibility whatsoever to third parties to whom this report, or any part thereof, is made known, unless formally agreed by ENVIRON beforehand. Any such party relies upon the report at their own risk. ENVIRON disclaims any responsibility to the Client and others in respect of any matters outside the agreed scope of the Services. Version Control Record Issue Description of Status Date Reviewer Authors Initials Initials 1 First Draft to Client 08/07/10 JC EJ 2 FINAL Report to Client 07/10/10 JC EJ Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Policy Context 1 2.1 National Transport Goals 2 2.2 Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) 2 2.3 Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement 3 3 The Influence of the Somerset County Council Transport Policies 7 4 Baseline Data 7 4.1 General Health Data 7 4.2 Air Quality Data 8 4.3 Noise and Nuisance from Traffic 9 4.4 Health Facilities in Somerset 11 4.5 Road Safety 12 4.6 Physical Fitness and Health in Somerset 14 5 Data Sources and Gaps 16 5.1 Data Sources 16 5.2 Data Gaps 16 6 Sustainability Issues 16 7 Suggested SEA Objectives 18 UK1815830 Issue: 2 i Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report 1 Introduction This is Topic Paper 1 of the SEA Environmental Report of Somerset County Council Transport Policies (the equivalent of the Local Transport Plan). The topic paper addresses the potential issues of relevance to the Somerset County Council Transport Policies which are related to the RSS high level sustainability objective of1: Improving health There are five other Topic Papers that address: • Supporting communities that meet people’s needs (Topic Paper 2); • Developing the economy in ways that meet people’s needs (Topic Paper 3); • Provide access to meet people’s needs with least damage to communities and the environment (Topic Paper 4); • Maintain and improve environmental quality and assets (Topic Paper 5); and • Minimising consumption of natural resources (Topic Paper 6); This paper sets out: • The policy context that the Somerset County Council Transport Policies will need to address; • The influence that the Somerset County Council Transport Policies can have on the issue highlighted; • Review of available baseline data; • Data gaps and sources of data; • Sustainability issues identified and future trends; and • Suggested SEA objectives. 2 Policy Context Many plans and policies set the context for transport, some directly and some indirectly. These include the national transport goals, the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Local Area Agreement. It is vital that the Somerset County Council Transport Policies directly help to deliver the goals of these other strategies. As well as these key documents international and national legislation and the plans and policies of other organisations (or other departments within the council) can have an influence on how the Somerset County Council Transport Policies should develop. A summary has been included below of the key documents that the Somerset County Council Transport Policies should help to deliver: The national transport goals, the Regional 1 Please note that Regional Spatial Strategies have been revoked by the new government as of 6th July. At the time of the SEA scoping it was good practice to ensure that the principles and objectives of the RSS were reflected in the SEA. Because of this there may still be some references to the RSS in this Environmental Report. UK1815830 Issue: 2 1 Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report Spatial Strategy, the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Local Area Agreement. Table TP1.1 includes reviews of the other important policy documents that will influence the delivery of the Somerset County Council Transport Policies. 2.1 National Transport Goals Developing a Sustainable Transport System (DfT, 2008) outlines five national transport goals: • Supporting economic growth; • Tackling climate change; • Promoting equality of opportunity; • Contribute to safety, security and health; and • Improve quality of life. The safety, security and health goal in full reads: To contribute to better safety, security and health and longer life-expectancy by reducing the risk of death, injury or illness arising from transport and by promoting travel modes that are beneficial to health. A number of key challenges are presented in the document. Relevant challenges include: • Reduce transport accidents; • Reduce social costs of transport; and • Improve the health of individuals by enabling physical activity. 2.2 Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) The latest version of the RSS is the Draft Revised Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West incorporating the Secretary of State's Proposed Changes - for Public Consultation (July 2008). The RSS includes a number of relevant policies including (policies have been summarised): Policy HE1 Planning for Healthcare: Plans for the provision or reorganisation of healthcare shall be fully complementary with plans for development and change in the long term. At an early stage in preparing Local Development Frameworks, and in determining planning applications, Local Authorities should work closely with healthcare providers (the Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and NHS Trusts) to ensure that timely provision is made. Local Development Frameworks should support proposals for the provision of additional healthcare facilities, recognising that the structure of provision is changing. Policy HE2 Promoting Health: LDDs should address preventive measures to address causes of ill health and include actions that can help shape healthy communities. Policy RE9 Air Quality: The impacts of development proposals on air quality must be taken into account and Local Authorities should ensure, through LDDs, that new development will UK1815830 Issue: 2 2 Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report not exacerbate air quality problems in existing and potential AQMAs. This should include consideration of the potential impacts of new developments and increased traffic levels on internationally designated nature conservation sites, and adopting mitigation measures to address these impacts. 2.3 Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement The Sustainable Community Strategy for Somerset 2008-2026 has the following aims: • Making a positive contribution; • Living sustainably; • Ensuring economic wellbeing; • Enjoying and achieving; • Staying safe; and • Being healthy. There are a number of objectives and actions relevant to this theme including: • Aim 5: Staying Safe: The vision for 2026 - People of all ages feel safe in their homes and on the streets and roads of Somerset. • Aim 6: Being Healthy: The vision for 2026 - People are healthy and everyone has the information and support to be able to make the best choices about their lifestyles. • Relevant challenges highlighted are: - Reduce health inequalities; - Improving road safety; and - Tackle high risk health issues. Relevant targets are: • Increase healthy life expectancy at age 65; • Reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents; • Increase people’s overall health and wellbeing; • Reduce the mortality rates from all circulatory diseases at ages under 75; • Reduce obesity among primary school age children in Year 6; and • Increase the number of children and adults regularly participating in physical activity. The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is the key delivery plan for the Sustainable Community Strategy. It sets out the Government’s and partners’ priorities for Somerset and what will be tackled first. Success will be gauged by measuring success against indicators. 32 indicators have been selected from a national list prepared by the Government and 18 have been selected to reflect issues of local importance. • NI 47 People killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents; • NI 56 Obesity in primary school age children in Year 6; UK1815830 Issue: 2 3 Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report • NI 121 Mortality rates from all circulatory diseases at ages under 75; and • NI 137 Healthy life expectancy at aged 65. UK1815830 Issue: 2 4 Somerset County Council SEA Environmental Report Table TP1.1: Improving Health: General Policy Context Key documents Objectives / targets and requirements relevant to the Somerset County Council Transport Policies International documents Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament Air Quality Directive: Under the directive Member States are required to reduce exposure to various and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air pollutants including PM2.5 and NOx by 2020 quality and cleaner air for Europe Directive on Environmental Noise: Each Member State should determine exposure to environmental Directive on Environmental Noise (2002/49/EC) noise through noise mapping, ensure that information on environmental noise and its effects