Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Structure Plan 1996-2016

Technical Paper 2

Sustainability Appraisal

Please note that you will need excel to be able to view Graph 1 and the Summary Matrices linked to this document

Introduction

1. The aim of the revised Structure Plan is to secure the most appropriate development in the most appropriate locations, while taking into account environmental, social and economic well-being. That is, a strategy which successfully addresses sustainable development issues. Incorporating the objectives of sustainable development requires a new way of thinking that will contribute towards a continued improvement to the quality of life. The appraisal of emerging policies is an important mechanism which will help to ensure the objectives of sustainable development are incorporated into the Plan.

2. Planning Policy Guidance Note 12 (Development Plans), published in January 2000, states that in carrying out a full environmental appraisal of the plan, the same methodologies can be developed to encompass economic and social issues. Guidance to assist planning authorities has been published by government departments. In 1993, the Department of the Environment produced a Good Practice Guide for carrying out the Environmental Appraisal process.

3. In 1998, DETR published a good practice guide " Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better Practice". It has also published, in 1999, research on a methodology for undertaking sustainability appraisals of regional planning guidance. More recently EU Directive 2001/42/EC was adopted that requires certain plans and programmes to undergo a strategic environmental assessment.

4. In the light of this guidance, the Three Councils developed an appraisal methodology which addresses the issue of sustainable development. The appraisal process ensures that the potential impact of policies on people’s environmental, social and cultural and economic well-being is systematically and comprehensively assessed while the policies are being developed. It ensures an iterative approach to policy formulation. This provides the opportunity to revise policies to mitigate any identified potential negative impacts and enhance identified beneficial impacts. It is also a means of ensuring consistency between the aims and policies of the Plan and gives greater justification for policy decisions.

5. Sustainability appraisals have also been carried out at other tiers of land use planning within the East Midlands including the Regional Planning Guidance and Local Plans. The appraisal process helps to ensure that the concept of sustainable development is integrated into the policy formulation process at all these levels.

6. This document outlines the methodology used to carry out the appraisal of the emerging Structure Plan policies and describes the main findings.

Methodology

7. The appraisal process was co-ordinated by an officer group set up to address sustainable development issues and was undertaken by those groups of officers responsible for preparing each of the Chapters. This enabled the potential impacts of policies to be better understood by those preparing them and also allowed the results to be immediately fed into the re-examination and revision of policies. The membership of each group included a range of professional interests from the County, Unitary and District Councils.

Defining the Factors

8. The first stage of establishing the appraisal methodology was to define the factors that were to provide the framework for the appraisal. The responses to the 1996 Issues Paper provided useful information on the factors that people considered contributed to their quality of life. The factors were also chosen in consultation with officers preparing the policies and external experts from a variety of organisations including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, English Nature, the Government Office for the East Midlands and Universities. Definitions of each of the factors used are listed in Appendix One.

Undertaking the Appraisal

9. In undertaking the appraisal the primary effects of the policies on each factor were recorded and any potentially significant secondary effects were also noted for information. The groups had to decide whether the policy was likely to have the desired effect on each factor and therefore help in moving towards the objectives of sustainable development or whether it is likely to move us further away from the objectives. Once this had been decided an assessment was made as to whether this move is likely to be marginal or significant.

10. Where a policy showed significant movements away from sustainable development a more detailed commentary of the discussion was recorded. After appraising the policy a short written summary of the impacts and points to note were prepared.

11. The Consultation Draft Plan, the Deposit Draft Plan and the Proposed Modifications have all been appraised. Reports of the appraisals of the Consultation draft and Deposit Draft were published as Technical Papers along with the Plans themselves. The Proposed Modifications were only appraised where there was a significant difference from the Deposit Draft, or where a new policy had been drafted, for example, the Strategic River Corridors policy. The matrices in Appendix Two show where the impact on a factor has changed since the Deposit Draft.

The Results

General Summary

12. The appraisal of the Consultation Draft, on balance, indicated a move towards the objectives of sustainable development. It was particularly positive in terms of accessibility, the local economy, built environment, vitality of centres, equity and transport mode. This would suggest that key objectives of the Plan were being achieved.

13. There were also some moves away from sustainable development, most notably on movement, landscape, health and air quality factors. This reflects the fact that by accepting a certain level of development needs to occur, for economic and social reasons, some ‘trade-off’ with environmental factors will need to take place. Other policies within the Plan will help to mitigate the impact on the environment and ensure that the most important environmental assets are given full protection.

14. The appraisal process was repeated for the Deposit Draft. Overall, there was little change. However, on balance, housing, accessibility and biodiversity showed improvement, whilst the effects on the vitality of centres and land and soil became less positive compared with the Consultation Draft.

15. The appraisal of the Proposed Modifications used the same methodology and process. Again, this generally gave rise to little change. This is illustrated by Graph 1 which summarises the number of positive and negative impacts on each of the factors considered. An important element however is the increase in the overall positive effect on landscape, land, soil and biodiversity resulting from modifications to some policies and the introduction of other policies.

Appendix One

Definitions of Factors

QUALITY OF LIFE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

Open Space : Public, semi-private and private open areas, including water bodies, within the built-up areas of the city, towns and villages. Consideration needs to be given to both its quantity and quality. This factor should be viewed primarily from the human perspective.
Health: Consideration needs to be given to local air and water quality, the effect of noise pollution, as well as the availability of recreational facilities.
Safety and Security: In attempting to make people feel safer and more secure, attention needs to be given to both reducing accidents and crime, and to improving people’s perception of how safe and secure they are. This includes design of buildings, roads, cycleways, walkways and open spaces.
Housing: Shelter which eliminates the need to sleep rough or live in temporary accommodation. The issues to consider are whether housing is affordable, meets local needs and reduces homelessness.
Accessibility: Maximise the ability of all sections of society to utilise facilities, services, get to places, and to have the opportunity to participate in the local economy. More specifically, it includes the ability of all sections of society to utilise local shops, open spaces, the open countryside, public transport, walking and cycling facilities, training and education, and job opportunities. This factor does not include mobility.
Equity and equality of opportunity: Maximises people’s equality in accessing and utilising facilities, services, opportunities and resources. The factor promotes the use of community facilities and takes account of local needs, particularly the needs of ethnic minorities, women, the disabled and elderly. Whether the policy could disadvantage different cultural groups also needs to be considered.
Local economy: Local employment, retail and commercial uses which contribute towards sustaining and enhancing the economic development of both urban and rural areas. Consideration needs to be given to the provision of educational and training facilities to promote skills in the labour force and measures taken to encourage an environment in which enterprise can be encouraged to develop.
Vitality of centres: In defining the vitality of centres, consideration needs to be given to the diverse range of uses which they can accommodate. It is important that wherever possible the vitality of town centres is enhanced particularly in view of increasing competition from out of town centres.
Built environment: In terms of measuring quality of life in the built environment consideration needs to be given to the townscape of cities, towns and villages. Encouragement should be given to projects which reuse and maintain buildings, reduce vacancy rates, promote renewal and the use of sustainable design. In addition, consideration should be given to the sources and types of material used.
Cultural Heritage: The important diverse range of historic buildings, ancient monuments, sites of archaeological interest and conservation areas which need to be preserved or enhanced in order to safeguard and improve the quality and character of the built and natural environment.

NATURAL RESOURCES

Landscape Character and Open Space: The quality and diversity of the landscape and extent of open countryside. Examples of issues to consider include designated areas, tree cover, green wedges, severance, derelict land and mineral extraction, amongst others.
Minerals: The environmental impacts arising from the extraction and use of mineral deposits, and the potential for reuse and recycling.
Waste: The environmental impact of waste products. Consideration should be given to resource efficiency and promoting waste minimisation, reuse and recycling and reducing waste arisings.
Water: The quality and quantity of water resources and the waterside environment. Issues include the quality of watercourses, standing water and groundwater, the creation of standing water, the protection of essential washlands, floodplains, and the impact of the water supply on groundwater resources and river flow.
Land and Soil: The impact on the land reserve, including land, soil and water quality, landscape and geology. Land reclamation and high quality restoration should be encouraged together with the protection of high quality agricultural and geological resources. Policies should aim to reduce land contamination, monocultures and the need for waste disposal and greenfield sites.

GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY

Biodiversity: The variety of life and habitats and the potential for the conservation and improvement of existing habitats and the creation of new ones. Important wildlife sites and habitats should be conserved and species numbers and diversity should be promoted.
Movement: The action of people and goods travelling between places. Consideration needs to be given to how many, how far and the mode by which journeys are made and the choice of destination, which may determine the length, travelling time and mode by which the journey is made.
Transport Mode: The type of transport used to make a journey. It should be remembered that many journeys are made by more than one mode e.g. walking and public transport. Consideration needs to be given to the quality and availability of alternatives, length and purpose of journey, choice of destination (e.g. proximity to bus route), personal choice, relative costs and availability of parking or location of public transport nodes at the destination.
Total Energy Use: The amount of energy used, the efficiency of energy use and transmission and the environmental impacts of transmission and supply. Policies should promote the most energy efficient layout and location of development, the use of combined heat and power and renewable energy.
Regional Air Quality: Air quality impacts that are primarily on a regional or larger scale i.e. carbon dioxide from road and transport, industry and domestic energy use; methane from agriculture , waste disposal and mining; nitrous oxide from nylon manufacture and fertiliser use; and sulphur dioxide from power stations etc.