East Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Final Report March 2010 Photographs courtesy of East Herts District Council East Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Revision Schedule Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report March 2010 Rev Date Details Prepared by Reviewed by Approved by 01 September Draft SA James Allan Vanessa Barri Dr Steve Smith 2009 Scoping Report Assistant Environmental Senior Environmental Associate Consultant Consultant 01 September Draft HRA Graeme Down Dr James Riley Dr James Riley 2009 Report Assistant Ecologist Principal Ecologist Principal Ecologist 02 October 2009 Draft Scoping James Allan Vanessa Barri Dr Steve Smith Report for Assistant Environmental Senior Environmental Associate Consultation Consultant Consultant 03 March 2010 Final Report James Allan Vanessa Barri Dr Steve Smith Assistant Environmental Senior Environmental Associate Consultant Consultant Scott Wilson 6-8 Greencoat Place London This document has been prepared in accordance with the scope of Scott Wilson's appointment with its client and is subject to the terms of that appointment. 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The contents of this document do not provide legal or tax advice or opinion. © Scott Wilson Ltd 2010 www.scottwilson.com East Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Table of Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 2 Approach to the SA......................................................................... 2 3 A1(M) Corridor............................................................................... 12 4 Hertford-Ware Area ....................................................................... 17 5 M11 Stort Corridor......................................................................... 22 6 Rural Service Centres ................................................................... 28 7 Rural Area...................................................................................... 32 8 North of Harlow ............................................................................. 36 9 Air quality....................................................................................... 39 10 Biodiversity and green infrastructure.......................................... 42 11 Climate change (mitigation and adaptation) ............................... 52 12 Community and wellbeing ............................................................ 62 13 Economy and employment........................................................... 74 14 Historic environment .................................................................... 83 15 Housing.......................................................................................... 87 16 Land ............................................................................................... 93 17 Landscape ................................................................................... 101 18 Transport ..................................................................................... 107 19 Water ............................................................................................ 118 20 European sites............................................................................. 129 21 Next steps.................................................................................... 144 Appendix 1 – Draft SA Scoping Report Consultees ............................ 145 Appendix 2 – Consultation Responses ................................................ 148 List of Figures Figure 1: Five stage approach to SA...............................................................................................................2 Figure 2: Spatial Function Areas .....................................................................................................................7 East Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Figure 3: House prices in LCB (east)/M11 sub-region compared to Eastern region average ......................13 Figure 4: Travel to work to London................................................................................................................14 Figure 5: Method of travel to work.................................................................................................................15 Figure 6: Method of travel to work.................................................................................................................19 Figure 7: Method of travel to work.................................................................................................................20 Figure 8: Method of travel to work.................................................................................................................24 Figure 9: Method of travel to work.................................................................................................................25 Figure 10: Biodiversity and green infrastructure within East Herts ...............................................................44 Figure 11: Key Biodiversity Areas in Hertfordshire .......................................................................................48 Figure 12: Main water catchments in East Herts...........................................................................................56 Figure 13: CFMP messages for East Herts...................................................................................................57 Figure 14: Flood zones 2 and 3 in East Herts...............................................................................................59 Figure 15: IMD 2007 - Health deprivation and disability ...............................................................................68 Figure 16: IMD 2007 – Crime ........................................................................................................................70 Figure 17: IMD 2007 – Education and training domain.................................................................................72 Figure 18: GVA in East Herts, 2005 ..............................................................................................................77 Figure 19: Employment in East Herts, 2005..................................................................................................77 Figure 20: IMD 2007 – Employment..............................................................................................................78 Figure 21: IMD 2007 – Income......................................................................................................................81 Figure 22: Historic constraints in East Herts .................................................................................................85 Figure 23: Price increases by property type in East Herts ............................................................................89 Figure 24: Homelessness in East Herts ........................................................................................................90 Figure 25: Annual dwelling completion rate in East Herts.............................................................................90 Figure 26: PDL completions and projections.................................................................................................91 Figure 27: Groundwater vulnerability ............................................................................................................97 Figure 28: Landfill sites in East Herts............................................................................................................98 Figure 29: Agricultural land by use type ........................................................................................................98 Figure 30: Agricultural land classification ......................................................................................................99 Figure 31: Landscape regions in Hertfordshire ...........................................................................................103 Figure 32: Metropolitan Green Belt .............................................................................................................105 Figure 33: Summary of indicators and targets ............................................................................................109 Figure 34: Primary transport routes within East Herts ................................................................................111 Figure 35: Traffic growth predictions (2001 base year)...............................................................................112 Figure 36: Reported congestion hotspots in East Herts..............................................................................114 Figure 37: AM Peak Volume over Capacity (V/C) Ratio Bands Above 80% at 2011..................................115