Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulation 14 Environmental Report November 2018 Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Environmental Report Quality information Prepared by Checked by Approved by Graham McGrath Alastair Peattie Nick Chisholm-Batten Assistant Consultant Associate Director Associate Revision History Revision Revision date Details Authorised Position 1 19 March Draft for internal review Graham McGrath Assistant 2018 Consultant 2 23 March Draft for amendment Alastair Peattie Principal Consultant 2018 3 21 May 2018 Draft for approval and client Alastair Peattie Principal Consultant review 4 09 October Final Draft for review Alastair Peattie Associate Director 2018 5 07 November Final following comments from Alastair Peattie Associate Director 2018 Locality AECOM Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Environmental Report Prepared for: Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum Prepared by: AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited 3rd Floor, Portwall Place Portwall Lane Bristol BS1 6NA United Kingdom T: +44 117 901 7000 aecom.com © 2018 AECOM Limited. All Rights Reserved. This document has been prepared by AECOM Limited (“AECOM”) in accordance with its contract with Locality (the “Client”) and in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. AECOM shall have no liability to any third party that makes use of or relies upon this document. AECOM Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Environmental Report THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK AECOM Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Environmental Report Table of Contents Non-Technical Summary ....................................................................................................................... i 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 SEA explained ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Structure of this Environmental Report ................................................................................................................... 4 2. Local Plan context and vision for the HSNP ......................................................................... 5 Local Plan context for the HSNP ............................................................................................................................. 5 Vision for the Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan .................................................................................................... 6 3. The scope of the SEA .............................................................................................................. 7 SEA Scoping Report ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Key sustainability issues ......................................................................................................................................... 8 SEA Framework .................................................................................................................................................... 10 4. What has the plan making / SEA involved up to this point? ............................................. 12 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 Overview of plan making / SEA work undertaken since 2013 ............................................................................... 12 Developing the Reasonable Alternatives ............................................................................................................... 12 Establishing the Reasonable Alternatives ............................................................................................................. 16 Assessment of the Reasonable Alternatives ......................................................................................................... 16 Developing the Preferred Approach ...................................................................................................................... 19 5. What are the appraisal findings at this current stage? ...................................................... 21 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 21 Approach to the appraisal ..................................................................................................................................... 21 Air Quality ............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Climate Change .................................................................................................................................................... 22 Climate change mitigation ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Climate change adaptation ................................................................................................................................... 22 Landscape and Historic Environment .................................................................................................................... 23 Land, soil and water resources ............................................................................................................................. 23 Population and Community ................................................................................................................................... 24 Health and Wellbeing ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Transportation ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 6. Conclusions at this current stage ........................................................................................ 27 Potential effects identified ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Recommendations at this current stage ................................................................................................................ 27 7. What are the next steps?....................................................................................................... 28 Appendix A Scoping Information ...................................................................................................... 29 AECOM Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Non-Technical Summary THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK AECOM Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan Non-Technical Summary Non-Technical Summary What is strategic environmental assessment? A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been undertaken to inform the Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan. This process is required by the SEA Regulations, which transpose the European Commission SEA Directive into UK law. Neighbourhood Plan groups use SEA to assess Neighbourhood Plans against a set of sustainability objectives developed in consultation with interested parties. The purpose of the assessment is to avoid adverse environmental and socio-economic effects through the Neighbourhood Plan, and identify opportunities to improve the environmental quality of the area covered by the Neighbourhood Plan and the quality of life of residents. What is the Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan The Neighbourhood Plan area covers the Hove Station area including part of the DA6 Hove Station area which relates to Policy DA6 in the Brighton & Hove City Council Local Plan. Prepared to be in conformity with the Brighton and Hove City Plan, it sets out a vision and a range of policies for the Neighbourhood Plan Area. These relate to a range of topics, including, but not limited to, landscape and townscape character, the quality of life of residents, tourism and the protection and enhancement of the environment. It is currently anticipated that the Neighbourhood Plan will be submitted to Brighton & Hove Council in 2019. This Environmental Report, which accompanies the current consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan, is the second document to be produced as part of the SEA process. The first document was the SEA Scoping Report (October 2017), which includes information about the Neighbourhood Plan area’s environment and community. The purpose of this Environmental Report is to: Identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects of the Neighbourhood Plan and alternatives; and Provide an opportunity for consultees to offer views on any aspect of the SEA process which has been carried out to date. The Environmental Report contains: An outline of the contents and main objectives of the Neighbourhood Plan and its relationship with other relevant policies, plans and programmes; Relevant aspects of the current and future state of the environment and key sustainability