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One requirement of the new planning system is that Local Development Documents (LDD) should undergo a Sustainability Appraisal (SA). The EU Strategic Environmental Directive also requires that authorities must determine whether or not any plans or programmes they are producing require a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to be carried out.
The Council has made a determination under section 9(1) of The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, that a SEA is required of the North Hertfordshire Local Development Framework.
Though SA and SEA are distinct requirements, government guidance states that it is possible to satisfy both requirements in a single appraisal process. This is what the Council is doing.
The process involves assessing policies and proposals against agreed sustainability objectives. The Scoping Report is the first stage in this process and consists of the framework for carrying out the appraisal, including the sustainability objectives.
The purpose of the appraisal process is to promote sustainable development through better integration of sustainability considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans.
The Council commissioned consultants to carry out the SA/SEA of its Core Strategy and Development Control Policies. The draft Scoping Report was out for public consultation in June and July 2005. The final report has now been endorsed by the Council’s Cabinet, and is attached below.
In September and October 2005, the Council put out for consultation an Options Paper, this set out the main issues which the Local Development Framework has to address, as well as some options on how we can deal with them. The paper was appraised using the sustainability framework in the approved Scoping Report. The appraisal documents are attached below.
Options Appraisal Final Report - Appendix 2 - PPPs
- Appendix 3 - Baseline Data
- Appendix 4 - Conclusions Recommendations
- Appendix 5 - Objectives matrices
- Appendix 6 - Options matrices
