As submitted [22 June 201 for Examination in accordance with Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. Habitats Regulations Assessment Carlisle District Local Plan 2015-2030 Proposed Submission Draft 1 Contents 1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Consultation.......................................................................................................................................... 6 3.0 Methodology.......................................................................................................................................... 7 4.0 Deciding whether a plan should be subject to Habitats Regulations Appraisal............................. 9 5.0 Identifying European Sites that should be considered in the HRA.................................................. 11 6.0 Information gathering about the European Sites............................................................................... 14 7.0 The Screening Process......................................................................................................................... 14 8.0 Mitigation/Avoidance............................................................................................................................. 37 9.0 Consideration of likely significant effects in combination................................................................ 44 10.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 48 Map showing locations of European sites that are within, partly within, and outside the boundary of the District........................................................................................................ 49 Appendix 1: European Sites ........................................................................................................................... 50 2 3 Carlisle District Local Plan 2015 – 2030 (Publication) Habitats Regulations Assessment screening report. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Carlisle City Council has produced a proposed submission draft (Publication) Local Plan, (the Carlisle District Local Plan 2015 – 2030) (referred to throughout this document as the ‘Local Plan’). The Local Plan contains strategic policies for growth, detailed development management policies and allocations of land for development. When adopted, the Local Plan will form the Council’s statutory policy framework for planning, and will shape and guide future development to 2030. 1.2 The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 provide for the designation and protection of European sites. Under the Regulations, competent authorities have a general duty, in the exercise of any of their functions, to have regard to the EC Habitats Directive, (the Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of the Wild Flora and Fauna). The HRA of plans is undertaken in stages (as described below) and should conclude whether or not a proposal or policy in a plan would adversely affect the integrity of any relevant European site. This is judged in terms of the implications of the plan for a site’s qualifying features (i.e. those Annex I habitats, Annex II species, and Annex I bird populations for which it has been designated) and are measured with reference to the conservation objectives for those qualifying features as defined by Natural England. 1.3 The Local Plan has evolved from an initial core strategy (which underwent both a ‘key issues’ and an ‘issues and options’ stage), to a full Local Plan which has involved a two stage preferred options version, leading to the current proposed submission draft Local Plan. The HRA represents the screening stage of the process to determine whether the Local Plan is likely to have a significant effect on a European site. The HRA has been updated at each stage of the Local Plan to take account of changes to the Plan such as deleted or amended or new policies and site allocations. The HRA has also been made available for consultation alongside the Local Plan at each stage. 1.4 The proposed submission draft version of the Local Plan represents that considered by the local planning authority to be ‘sound’, which means that the Local Plan must meet the following tests: • positively prepared – the plan should be prepared based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements; 4 • justified – the plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence; • effective – the plan should be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross boundary strategic priorities; and • consistent with national policy – the plan should enable the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the NPPF. 5 2.0 Consultation 2.1 The HRA has been an ongoing process carried out for all stages of the Local Plan preparation, and has helped inform each stage of evolving policy. For the preferred options (stage 2) version of the Local Plan, Natural England agreed with Carlisle Council’s conclusion that stages 2 and 3 of the Habitats Regulations Assessment, requiring a full Appropriate Assessment, was not required. This was accompanied by the proviso that it does not remove the need for consideration of Habitats Regulations Assessment screening for schemes and projects which may be adjacent to or in close proximity to Natura 2000 sites, should they be proposed. 2.2 Prior to this, and pre-publication of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the Council undertook a first draft HRA of the Issues and Options stage of the then Core Strategy. (Post NPPF the Council made a decision to produce a full Local Plan). The approach taken in the first draft was endorsed by Natural England who commended the proactive approach of considering the requirements of the Regulations during the early stages of the development of the plan. 2.3 This report sets out the next stage of the HRA process for the Local Plan. The aim of the report is to show that the plan making process complies with the Habitats Directive, identifies any policies and proposals that are likely to have a significant effect on European Site(s) and ensure that policies within the Plan avoid any likely significant effect on European sites. 2.4 The Habitats Regulations require that the appropriate nature conservation statutory body is consulted (Natural England). In addition the Council has consulted Scottish Natural Heritage as the District borders Scotland, and the Solway Firth SAC/SPA and Upper Solway Flats and Marshes SPA and Ramsar site lies partially within Scotland. The HRA is also available for wider public consultation. Any responses received will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government together with the Local Plan and accompanying documents. These comments will then be taken into account during an examination by an appointed independent Inspector. Details of any responses made will be made publicly available. 2.5 Comments on the HRA can be made as follows: by e-mail to [email protected] By post to – Investment and Policy Team, Carlisle City Council, Civic Centre, Carlisle, CA3 8QG. 6 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Notwithstanding the legal requirements prescribed in the Habitats Directive and transposed in the Regulations, there is no standard methodology published by either DCLG or Natural England for how HRA should be carried out. Therefore this document has had regard to ‘Habitats Regulations Appraisal of Plans: Guidance for Plan-Making Bodies in Scotland’ (August 2012), produced for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Whilst the SNH guidance is aimed at all types of plans, the methodological process of assessing the policies and proposals in a plan are applicable to a local plan. The guidance includes the following stages: - evidence gathering: collecting information on the European sites within and outside the Plan area (including their characteristics and conservation objectives), and other relevant plans or projects; - screening: this stage is not a single stage in the preparation of the Plan. It is a stage that is likely to need repeating, for example as the Plan changes through the consultation process, and perhaps again towards the end of the Plan making process when modifications are considered for inclusion after the examination of the Plan; - if necessary, appropriate assessment: this stage will be carried out if the screening stage finds likely significant effects on European sites of a particular policy option or part of the Plan. The Appropriate Assessment will be of the implications of the particular policy or allocations in the Plan for the European site in view of the site’s conservation objectives; - mitigation measures and alternative solutions: if a policy option or part of the Plan has been found to have adverse effects on the integrity of a European site, the option will normally require modification until the adverse effects are cancelled out or sufficiently reduced; - if the likely impacts identified during the screening stage are considered unlikely to have a significant impact on a European site, Appropriate Assessment and other subsequent stages will not be needed. The Boggis* judgement in the Court of Appeal ruled that there should be: ‘’...credible evidence