Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of the East Hampshire Site Allocations Plan SA Report April 2015 SA of the East Hampshire Site Allocations Plan Revision schedule Rev Date Details Prepared by Reviewed by Approved by 1 April SA Report published alongside the Anthony Whitaker Mark Fessey Steve Smith 2014 draft (‘proposed submission’) East Assistant Consultant Principal Consultant Technical Director Hampshire Site Allocations Plan Chris Eves Assistant Consultant Mark Fessey Principal Consultant Limitations URS Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited (“URS”) has prepared this Report for the use of East Hampshire District Council (“the Client”) in accordance with the Agreement under which our services were performed. No other warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to the professional advice included in this Report or any other services provided by URS. 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URS Infrastructure and Environment UK Limited 6-8 Greencoat Place London, SW1P 1PL Telephone: +44(0)20 7798 5000 Fax: +44(0)20 7798 5001 SA REPORT I SA of the East Hampshire Site Allocations Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................................1 1 BACKGROUND ...............................................................................................................................................2 2 SA EXPLAINED ...............................................................................................................................................2 3 THIS SA REPORT ...........................................................................................................................................2 PART 1: WHAT’S THE SCOPE OF THE SA? ................................................................................................................4 4 INTRODUCTION (TO PART 1) ........................................................................................................................5 5 WHAT IS THE PLAN SEEKING TO ACHIEVE? .............................................................................................6 6 WHAT’S THE SUSTAINABILITY ‘CONTEXT’? ..............................................................................................7 7 WHAT’S THE SUSTAINABILITY ‘BASELINE’? ...........................................................................................13 8 WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES THAT SHOULD BE A FOCUS? .................................21 PART 2: WHAT HAS PLAN-MAKING / SA INVOLVED UP TO THIS POINT? ............................................................23 9 INTRODUCTION (TO PART 2) ......................................................................................................................24 10 REASONS FOR SELECTING THE ALTERNATIVES DEALT WITH ............................................................26 11 APPRAISAL OF REASONABLE ALTERNATIVES ......................................................................................43 12 IDENTIFYING A PREFERRED APPROACH IN-LIGHT OF APPRAISAL ....................................................50 PART 3: WHAT ARE THE SA FINDINGS AT THIS STAGE? ......................................................................................53 13 INTRODUCTION (TO PART 3) ......................................................................................................................54 14 APPRAISAL OF THE DRAFT PLAN .............................................................................................................54 PART 4: WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS (INCLUDING MONITORING)? ....................................................................65 15 INTRODUCTION (TO PART 4) ......................................................................................................................66 16 PLAN FINALISATION, ADOPTION AND MONITORING .............................................................................66 APPENDIX I – REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................68 APPENDIX II – SITE OPTIONS SCREENING METHODOLOGY .................................................................................69 APPENDIX III – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL METHODOLOGY .................................................................................74 APPENDIX IV – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: ALTON ...............................................................................................77 APPENDIX V – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: HORNDEAN ......................................................................................112 APPENDIX VI – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: LIPHOOK .........................................................................................138 APPENDIX VII – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: CLANFIELD ....................................................................................155 APPENDIX VIII – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: ROWLANDS CASTLE ...................................................................171 APPENDIX IX – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: FOUR MARKS / SOUTH MEDSTEAD ............................................185 APPENDIX X – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL: OTHER VILLAGES ...........................................................................213 APPENDIX XI – SITE OPTIONS APPRAISAL SUMMARY: LANDSCAPE ................................................................265 APPENDIX XII – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: ALTON ........................................................................268 APPENDIX XIII – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: HORNDEAN ..............................................................274 APPENDIX XIV – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: CLANFIELD ..............................................................278 APPENDIX XV – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: LIPHOOK ...................................................................281 APPENDIX XVI – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: ROWLANDS CASTLE ..............................................284 APPENDIX XVII – ALTERNATIVES APPRAISAL FINDINGS: OTHER VILLAGES ..................................................287 SA REPORT II SA of the East Hampshire Site Allocations Plan INTRODUCTION SA REPORT 1 INTRODUCTION SA of the East Hampshire Site Allocations Plan 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 URS is commissioned to undertake Sustainability Appraisal (SA) in support of the emerging East Hampshire District Local Plan Part 2: Housing and Employment Allocations (‘the Site Allocations Plan’). Once adopted, the Plan will allocate land for housing and employment around the District (within that part that falls outside of the South Downs National Park), in-line with the broad spatial approach prescribed by the adopted Joint Core Strategy. 2 SA EXPLAINED 2.1.1 SA is a mechanism for considering and communicating the likely effects of a draft plan, and alternatives, in terms of sustainability issues, with a view to avoiding and mitigating adverse effects and maximising the positives. SA of the Local Plan is a legal requirement.1 2.1.2 It is a requirement that SA is undertaken in-line with the procedures prescribed by the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, which were prepared in order to transpose into national law the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive.2 2.1.3 The Regulations require that a report - which for the purposes of SA is known as the SA Report – is published for consultation alongside the draft plan and then taken into account, alongside consultation responses, when finalising the plan. 2.1.4 Essentially, the SA Report must present information on the draft plan and reasonable alternatives. More specifically, the SA Report must answer four questions: 1. What’s the scope of the SA? 2. What has Plan-making / SA involved up to this point? – There must have been at least one earlier plan-making / SA iteration. ‘Reasonable alternatives’ must have been appraised. 3. What are the appraisal findings at this current stage?