Sustainability Appraisal
Contents
Introduction
This document is intended to accompany the Issues and Options
consultation paper for the Havant Borough Core Strategy. It
provides information on the likely effects the options set out in
the consultation paper will have for Sustainable Development.
Sustainable Development is often referred to as development
that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The
Government requires that all local planning authorities test their
plans using ‘Sustainability Appraisal’ to ensure that they do not
conflict with the aims of sustainable development.
The Core Strategy sets out the spatial vision, spatial
objectives and core policies for the development of the local
planning authority area. The Core Strategy will be influenced by a
number of documents including the South East Plan (which is the
Regional Spatial Strategy for the South East), and the vision for
the Borough that is contained within Stronger Together (which is
the Community Strategy for Havant Borough, 2005-08).
The Council is required to conduct a Sustainability Appraisal
as part of the process to produce the Core Strategy. Sustainability
Appraisal is a process where draft plans and programmes are
repeatedly assessed to see how they contribute towards the aims of
Sustainable Development. It is an integral part of the plan-making
process and allows the likely social, economic and environmental
effects of an emerging Plan to be assessed to ensure that
sustainability considerations are taken into account at each
stage.
To comply with the requirements for Sustainability Appraisal
and Strategic Environmental Assessment the Council must produce a
Scoping Report setting out the Council’s approach to conducting the
Appraisal.
It is not the case that the Council’s final preferred option
of the plan must be the most sustainable option identified by the
final Sustainability Appraisal Environmental Report. Instead,
Sustainability Appraisal is a tool to be used during the
preparation of a plan to inform the decision making process to
ensure that sustainability considerations are taken fully into
account.
Progress to Date
The Council carried out Sustainability Appraisals as part of
the Leigh Park Strategic Framework and Havant Town Centre
Supplementary Planning Documents. This work is now being developed
further for the Core Strategy.
The Council has commissioned consultants Entec to produce a
Scoping Report for the Sustainability Appraisal of the Core
Strategy and other documents. This sets out the key sustainability
issues for Havant Borough and sets out the economic, social and
environmental objectives which should be addressed in the core
Strategy and other Local Development Documents. The Scoping Report
has been prepared in consultation with the statutory consultees
(English Nature, English Heritage, the Countryside Agency and the
Environment Agency) as well as representatives of Havant Community
Partnership, the body responsible for the Community Strategy.
The Report identifies 16 key Sustainability Issues for Havant
Borough. They are as follows:
Identified Sustainability Issues for Havant Borough
A. Climate Change
B. Biodiversity
C. Landscape and Townscape
D. Countryside
E. Regeneration
F. Housing
G. Employment
H. Skills / Education
I. Resource Efficiency
J. Waste
K. Health and Well-being
L. Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture
M. Community Safety, Crime and the Fear of Crime
N. Transport / Accessibility
O. Anti-Poverty
P. Equality
A description of each issue is contained in the full Scoping
Report and the non-technical summary.
The Scoping Report then sets out 18 Sustainability Objectives
for the Borough. The proposals in the Core Strategy will be tested
against these Objectives to see if the Plan is contributing towards
sustainable development.
Sustainability Objectives for Havant Borough
1. Housing
2. Health and Well-being
3. Equality, Poverty and Social Inclusion
4. Education and skills
5. Safety and Security
6. Liveability and Sense of Place
7. Accessibility / Transport
8. Flooding
9. Regeneration and Land Use
10. Air Quality
11. Climate Change
12. Biodiversity
13. Natural Landscape
14. Built and Historic Environment
15. Waste and Natural Resources
16. Water Quality and Quantity
17. Energy
18. Economy, Opportunity and Innovation
The Scoping Report has undergone a formal period of
consultation with the four statutory consultees which ended 17 July
2006. The results of that consultation will be considered and may
result in the social, economic and environmental objectives for the
Borough to be amended.
The full Sustainability Appraisal Report
Following the Scoping Report, the Council’s next statutory
requirement is to produce a final report along with the preferred
options for the Core Strategy. This will include a very formal
assessment of the Council’s preferred options for the Core
Strategy, measuring each policy against the 18 Sustainability
Objectives. The assessment must show the likely short, medium and
long term effects as well as any cumulative impacts and will
necessarily be a very long document. The Scoping Report sets out
the likely structure of the final report. An example of the
detailed format of the proposed final report follows as an appendix
to this paper.
The Purpose of this Report
At this stage in the process the Issues and Options are wide
ranging and have yet to be refined into the Council’s preferred
option. Rather than be too detailed it is therefore appropriate
that this report includes notes on the likely sustainability
effects of each of the options put forward by questions 1 to 10 of
the Issues and Options Questionnaire so that respondents can see an
assessment of the implications of each option in sustainability
terms.
Likely Sustainability effects of Options contained within the
Issues and Options Paper
There now follows a discussion of the likely effects of each
of the points raised by questions 1 to 10 in the Issues and Options
consultation. They do not represent a full appraisal of each option
but are a first step in the appraisal process - an initial
discussion of some of the likely impacts each option has for
sustainable development.
Further work on developing the Council’s Sustainability
Appraisal and assessment of options will be undertaken as work on
the Core Strategy progresses. For now, the likely positive and
negative effects for each option have been noted, with reference to
the 18 Sustainability Objectives listed in this paper and the
Scoping Report. Where the potential effects are unknown or
uncertain these have also been noted.
and