STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LEIXLIP LOCAL AREA PLAN 2009 - 2015 NON-TECHNICAL REPORT MARCH 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 2 1.1 TERMS OF REFERENCE ................................................................................................... 2 1.2 PLAN AREA ................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 SEA PROCESS ............................................................................................................ 2 2. THE LEIXLIP LOCAL AREA PLAN 2009-2015 ............................................................. 5 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 5 2.2 STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK AND GOALS ................................................................................. 5 2.3 CONSULTATION ........................................................................................................... 5 3. BASELINE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT............................................................... 8 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 8 3.2 BIODIVERSITY (F LORA AND FAUNA )................................................................................... 8 3.3 POPULATION AND HUMAN HEALTH ..................................................................................... 9 3.4 GEOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 9 3.5 WATER ...................................................................................................................10 3.6 AIR QUALITY .............................................................................................................11 3.7 MATERIAL ASSETS ......................................................................................................11 3.8 LANDSCAPE ..............................................................................................................12 3.9 CULTURAL HERITAGE ...................................................................................................12 3.10 CUMULATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE ............................................................................12 4. ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED................................................................................. 16 4.1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................16 4.2 IDENTIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVES ...........................................................16 4.3 PREFERRED SCENARIO .................................................................................................16 5. STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES ............................................................ 18 5.1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................18 5.2 DEVELOPMENT OF SEA OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................18 5.3 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OBJECTIVES .........................................................................18 6. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE LIKELY SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS OF THE PLAN . 21 6.1 PART A 1-7 CONTEXT OF PLAN .......................................................................................21 6.2 PART A 8 DEVELOPMENT VISION FOR LEIXLIP ......................................................................21 6.3 ASSESSMENT OF VARIATIONS TO THE DRAFT PLAN (S ECOND CONSULTATION PERIOD ) ......................24 6.4 ASSESSMENT OF AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT PLAN (P RE -ADOPTION ) .........................................25 7. MITIGATION MEASURES ........................................................................................ 27 7.1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................27 7.2 PLAN SPECIFIC MITIGATION MEASURES .............................................................................27 7.3 MITIGATION MEASURES REQUIRED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN ........................................30 Q:/CE07/114/06/Reports/Rpt009-0.doc i/ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 8. MONITORING PROGRAMME.................................................................................... 33 8.1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................33 8.2 MONITORING PROGRAMME .............................................................................................33 8.3 RESPONSIBILITIES ......................................................................................................33 8.4 SOURCES OF INFORMATION............................................................................................33 8.5 FREQUENCY OF REPORTING ............................................................................................33 TABLE OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1.1: Leixlip LAP Study Area ....................................................................................... 3 Figure 3.1: Ecological Designated Areas ............................................................................... 9 Figure 3.2: Surface Water Features ....................................................................................10 Figure 3.3: Cumulative Impact Assessment .........................................................................14 LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 2.1: Contents of the draft Leixlip Local Area Plan 2009-2015......................................... 5 Table 5.1: SEA Objectives ................................................................................................19 Table 6.1: Leixlip Development Plan Strategic Policy Objectives ............................................21 Table 7.1: LAP Environmental Policies and Objectives ..........................................................27 Table 7.2: Proposed Mitigation Measures from implementation of the draft Plan ......................30 Table 8.1: Monitoring Programme .....................................................................................34 Q:/CE07/114/06/Reports/Rpt009-0.doc ii/ii Section 1 Strategic Environmental Assessment Non-Technical Report for the Leixlip Local Area Plan 2009-2015 Section 1 Introduction Q:/CE07/114/06/Reports/Rpt009-0.doc Page 1 of 37 Section 1 Strategic Environmental Assessment Non-Technical Report for the Leixlip Local Area Plan 2009-2015 1. INTRODUCTION • Consultation : to allow for submission from the public and interested bodies of the 1.1 Terms of Reference Draft Plan and associated Environmental Report • A SEA Statement : to identify how Fehily Timoney & Company (FTC) was appointed by environmental considerations and Kildare County Council to conduct the Strategic consultations have been integrated into the Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the Leixlip final Plan. Local Area Plan 2009 – 2015. The purpose of this environmental report is to assess the likely The development of the LAP, SEA and Appropriate significant environmental effects from the Assessment (required as per the Habitats Directive) implementation of the Leixlip Local Area Plan (LAP), are conducted concurrently and each process develop mitigation measures to reduce identified contributes to the development of each document significant impacts of the LAP and identify at each stage. The iterative process used in the monitoring procedures to assess the impact of the preparation of a development plan, SEA and LAP over its lifetime. Appropriate Assessment are presented in Figure 1.2 overleaf. 1.2 Plan Area Leixlip is located in Co. Kildare approximately 15 km from Dublin city centre on the border of Fingal and South Dublin County Councils. The town is bypassed by the M4, Galway Dublin route but can be accessed by eastern and western road junctions. The town is also serviced by regular railway services with two railway stations. Leixlip has been identified as a “moderate growth town” in the Greater Dublin Regional Planning Guidelines. In addition, a dynamic cluster has been identified between the towns of Leixlip, Maynooth, Celbridge and Kilcock in the Kildare County Development Plan 2006-2011. The town area is presented in Figure 1.1. 1.3 SEA Process In the context of the production of a Local Area Plan, the SEA process comprises the following principal stages: • Screening : to determine which plans and programmes are likely to have a significant impact on the environment • Scoping : to liaise with statutory consultees to identify key issues of concern that should be addressed in the environmental assessment of the Plan • Assessment : contains the findings of the assessment on the likely significant effects to the environment of implementing the Plan and describes the monitoring measures for the key effects that were identified. Q:/CE07/114/06/Reports/Rpt009-0.doc Page 2 of 37 Date 16/10/07 SW/DE R:\Map Production\2007\CE07\114\06\Workspace\ Mapping Reproduced Under Licence from the Ordnance Survey Ireland CE07-114-06_Fig 1.1_Study Area_Rev A Licence No. EN 0001207 © Government of Ireland ’ Co.Co. KildareKildare KeyKey MapMap County Kildare County Dublin Map Legend Study Area 0 0.4 0.8 kilometres County Border Fehily Timoney & Company Study Area Figure 1.1 Section 2 Strategic Environmental Assessment