Sustainability Appraisal of Consultation Document

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 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 and Havant Community Partnership.

 

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 three options put forward by this consultation so that respondents can see an assessment of the implications of each option in sustainability terms.
 
The three options are described in detail in the consultation paper.  In general terms, the package of measures could be described as:
 
Option 1 – Concentration on Havant and Waterlooville
Option 2 – Focus on mainland
Option 3 – Dispersal
Appendix
 

Likely Sustainability effects of Options contained within the Issues and Options Paper

 
There now follows a discussion of the likely effects of each proposal under each of the three options.
 
They do not represent a full appraisal of each option but continue the process of evaluating the options for development in the Borough
 
In addition to this, the overall broad effect of implementing all the proposals contained in each option is discussed.  Of course, there are many different combinations of proposals which could be put forward.  This appraisal merely shows the likely cumulative effects of all the proposals contained in each option – something that will have to be considered when we look at the Core Strategy as a whole.
 
Further work on developing the Council’s Sustainability Appraisal and assessment of options will be undertaken as work on the Core Strategy progresses. As stated, a full Environment Report will accompany the Council’s Preferred Options document.
 
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.
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Havant Borough Council, Civic Centre Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2AX