Sustainability Appraisal of the Suffolk Coastal Local Development Framework Core Strategy - Preferred Options including Development Control Policies and Strategic Housing Locations also including Appropriate Assessment – screening & scoping December 2008 Suffolk Coastal District Council is grateful to the Research & Intelligence Group, Planning and Performance Improvement, Suffolk County Council, upon whose work this appraisal is based Sustainability Appraisal 1 CONTENTS Page Non-technical summary 4 1.1 Non-technical summary 1.2 Likely significant effects of core strategy policies 1.3 Likely significant effects of development control policies 1.4 Difference the process has made 1.5 How to comment on the report Introduction 6 2. Introduction 2.1 Purpose of the report 2.2 Compliance with SEA directive and regulations 3. Method of appraisal 3.1 Approach to sustainability appraisal 3.2 Who carried out the sustainability appraisal 3.3 Who was consulted, when and how 3.4 Difficulties encountered 4. State of the environment in Suffolk Coastal 4.1 description of baseline characteristics 4.2 Predicted future baseline 4.3 Main issues and problems identified 4.4 Assumptions and limitations on information 5. Sustainability objectives 5.1 Links to other policies, plans and programmes 5.2 The SA framework 5.3 Compatibility of SA and Plan objectives 5.4 Mitigation Core Strategy policies 22 6. Appraisal of core strategy 6.1 Statutory purpose 6.2 Links with national policy & other plans 6.3 Core strategy policies and options 6.4 Significant effects 6.5 Mitigation 6.6 Uncertainties and risks 6.7 Other observations 6.9 Implementation & proposals for monitoring Development Control policies 30 7. Appraisal of development control policies 7.1 Statutory purpose 7.2 Links with national policy & other plans 7.3 Core strategy policies and options 7.4 Significant effects 7.5 Mitigation 7.6 Uncertainties and risks 7.7 Other observations Sustainability Appraisal 2 7.9 Implementation & proposals for monitoring Strategic housing Locations 38 8. Appraisal of strategic housing Locations 8.1 Introduction 8.2 East of Ipswich 8.3 Felixstowe GLOSSARY 42 TABLES Table 3.1 The stages of a Sustainability Appraisal Table 4.1 Sustainability issues identified Table 5.1 SA objectives Table 5.2 Core strategy objectives Table 5.3 Overall scores of the plan objectives measured against the SA objectives Table 5.4 Comparison of SA objectives with Core Strategy objectives Table 6.1 SA scoring system Table 6.2 Appraisal results of the 37 Core Strategy policies Table 6.3 Proposed indicators Table 7.1 SA scoring system Table 7.2 Results of the Development Control sustainability appraisal Table 7.3 Proposed indicators FIGURES Table 4.1 Protected areas and sites in Suffolk Coastal APPENDICES Appendix 1 Quality Assurance Checklist Appendix 2 February and June 2006 Scoping report consultation responses Appendix 3 Scoped documents Appendix 4 Core Strategy consultation responses Appendix 5 SA framework Appendix 6 Core Strategy Sustainability Appraisal Tables Appendix 7 Appropriate Assessment – Screening & Scoping Stage Sustainability Appraisal 3 NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY 1.1 Non-Technical Summary The aim of sustainability appraisal is to promote sustainable development by ensuring environmental, social, and economic factors are considered during plan preparation. It is a statutory requirement stemming from the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the same act that replaced Local Plans with the Local Development Framework. This report sets out the results of the sustainability appraisal of Suffolk Coastal District Council’s Core Strategy and Development Control Policies Preferred Options. This is a Development Plan Document that will, when formally adopted, form part of its Local Development Framework. Baseline information on key aspects of the environment, economy and society published in the Scoping Report (2006) have been updated and showed significant change. Access to services in rural areas has dropped below the County average, there is now an Air Quality Management Area in the District and the business formation rate is relatively low. Twenty three sustainability objectives spanning environmental, social and economic factors were used in the appraisal. Their compatibility with the 15 objectives of the Core Strategy revealed fourteen had more positive than negative compatibilities with SA objectives, signifying that the wording of the objectives have a high level of sustainability ingrained in them. No plan objectives appear to have more negative compatibilities with SA objectives than positive. The one SA objective with more negative than positive compatibilities was the reduction of waste. Statements that support waste minimisation are absent and this is reflected in the core strategy and development control policies. Thirty seven Core Strategic policies were appraised, most with several alternatives. It should be emphasised that the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ should not be added together in order to create a ‘score’ for each policy. To do so would assume equal weighting between the sustainability objectives. The overall impact should be considered. This is a fundamental difference to the approach used by Suffolk County Council in preparing earlier drafts of this appraisal. 1.2 Likely Significant Effects of core strategy policies The 31 core strategy policies appraised produced a total of 190 distinct positive impacts (of which 47 were strong positives), and 93 distinct negative impacts (all of which were weak negatives). The overall conclusion is the implementation of the preferred policies as a group of policies that can act in tandem, are appraised as having the potential to improve sustainability in Suffolk Coastal in the long term. The core strategy policies are likely to have a strong social impact, meeting the housing needs of the area as a whole, assisting access to services and reducing poverty and social exclusion. It will also help to achieve sustainable levels of prosperity and economic growth. It is also very strong on conserving and enhancing the quality and local distinctiveness of landscapes and townscapes, reflecting the need to protect the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the quality of the built environment in the towns. Sustainability Appraisal 4 The main areas requiring attention in the future drafting of policies are Water Quality, Air Quality, Historical and archaeological interest, Flood risk and coastal erosion, and Affordable housing. Eight recommendations for mitigating these concerns are made. 1.3 Likely significant effects of the development control policies All of the development control policies are generally more sustainable than the alternatives put forward. The 37 development control policies appraised produced a total of 182 distinct positive impacts (of which 42 were strong positives), over four times as many distinct negative impacts (of which only 3 were strong negative). Of the 37 policies scoring positively 10 had no negatives. These included policies1on Travel Plans, Design, and Telecommunications. The most negatives occur with policies on warehousing and storage, Static holiday caravans, cabins and chalets and Airfields. The most positive objective related to protection of the environment. Nine policies scored very significantly reflecting Suffolk Coastal’s response to comments made during consultations that the AONB seemed to get little protection. Other significant overall positive impacts related to conserving and enhancing areas of historical and archaeological importance. However, although these are the areas of significant effects, on balance the policies are stronger in their social impact. 1.4 Difference the process has made This Sustainability Appraisal has provided a largely independent assessment of the Core Strategy and development control Preferred Options policies and the strategic housing sites. It follows an appraisal undertaken in December 2007 of a first draft of core strategy policies. Many of the recommendations made at that stage have been taken up and this new appraisal confirms that the core strategy policies are more sustainable. Hence a thorough independent check of the sustainability of Suffolk Coastal District Council’s preferred options has been undertaken as envisaged by government and EU guidance. The further recommendations made in this report are now available for public consultation following which Suffolk Coastal District Council has the opportunity to review their policies in to take them into account alongside any public comments. Sustainability Appraisal 5 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Purpose of the report European Union Directive 2001/42/EC and the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes regulations 2004 require an assessment of the environmental effects of certain plans and programmes, known as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). This legislation applies to plans and programme, and modifications to them, whose formal preparation began after 21 July 2004 (or those that have not been adopted, or submitted to a legal procedure resulting in adoption by 21 July 2006). The objective of an SEA is to provide for a high level of protection of the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans with a view to promoting sustainable development. Suffolk Coastal District Council is currently undertaking work on its Local Development Framework (LDF), in line with the revised planning system for development plans under the Planning and