Sustainability Appraisal (SA) is required under the Planning and
Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 for all Development Plan Documents
(DPDs) and Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs). The EU
Strategic Development Directive also requires a Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA) to be carried out on certain types
of plans with significant environmental effects.
Both processes are undertaken during the preparation of a plan
or strategy to aid the implementation of sustainable development.
The main difference between them is that while SEA has more of an
environmental focus, SA includes greater coverage of the social and
economic aspects of sustainable development. Although SA and SEA
are distinct requirements, government guidance has recommended
a single appraisal process.
Suffolk approach to Sustainability Appraisal
The Suffolk Local Planning Authorities have been working
together for 10 years to assess the impact of planning policies and
decisions on progress towards sustainable development, through the
Suffolk Sustainability Appraisal Group (SSAG). The group continues
to produce annual monitoring information and a leaflet for the
project "Suffolk's Environment towards sustainable development",
but its main focus has recently shifted towards the statutory
requirement to carry out Sustainability Appraisal (incorporating
Strategic Environmental Assessment) as part of the new Local
Development Frameworks.
Based on government guidance, SSAG assessed how it could work
together, to pool resources and share learning. Several key areas
of joint working were identified that could assist all the Suffolk
authorities in producing Scoping Reports and carrying out later
stages of SA and SEA. Using the draft guidance SSAG has worked to
produce a core of information for all Suffolk authorities to use
and adapt as they see fit. This includes a framework of objectives
and indicators for Suffolk, a body of baseline data, and a document
scoping relevant plans and documents from international down to
county level. The SEA framework can be found in this document:
Sustainability Appraisal documents
This page will provide a central resource for accessing
documents relating to SA and SEA in Suffolk. Those currently
available to download are listed below, and further documents will
be added as they are produced.
Context review
This document summarises key relevant plans and strategies which
influence plan-making in Suffolk, and indicates any implications
they present for SA or the plan-making process. This includes
international, national, regional and county level documents. Much
of this builds upon work carried out for the Regional Spatial
Strategy for the East of England, RSS14 (marked RSS). Those marked
Local will be completed by individual District and Borough
authorities for their local area, if relevant.
This file lists all of the plans and programmes identified in
the full scoping document above.
Baseline data collection
This template file contains baseline data for indicators in the
SA framework for all Suffolk local authorities (County and
District/Borough level where possible).
This updated version contains county level data for Suffolk as a
whole.
Minerals and Waste Planning SA and SEA
All the documents related to SA and SEA for the minerals and
waste development frameworks can be found in the
Minerals and Waste Planning area.
Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 Strategic Environmental
Assessment
The Environmental Report sets out the sustainability appraisal
incorporating strategic environmental assessment for the Local
Transport Plan 2006-2011.
Waste procurement programme Strategic Environmental
Assessment
Background
The Suffolk Joint Municipal
Waste Management Strategy was published in October 2003 and sets
out the strategic framework for the management of municipal waste
in Suffolk. This Strategy, which was subject to extensive
consultation during its preparation, sets out how Suffolk's Local
Authorities will work together, and in partnership with others, to
minimise levels of waste generated and to manage waste in ways that
are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. The
County Council remains committed to the Joint Municipal Waste
Management Strategy and its aims to minimise the production of
waste and to maximise recycling and composting.
In these aims Suffolk has been highly successful. Based on
figures for 2005-6, Suffolk has the second-highest level of
recycling/composting of all English counties (39.74%) and St
Edmundsbury Borough Council is, with 50.6%, the top-performing
district council in the country; the average national figure is
just 23%. Improvements in recycling and composting will continue,
and the Strategy aspires to reach recycling levels of 60% by
2010.
However, landfill costs are increasing, with the rate of
landfill tax rising annually. In addition, 2009-10 will see the
introduction of the Landfill Tax Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS),
which could see Suffolk hit with very substantial fines if it
landfills more waste than it has an “allowance” for. With the
declining availability of landfill voidspace in the county being a
further constraint, the Strategy recognises that it will not be
possible to rely on landfill for the disposal of all Suffolk’s
residual municipal waste in the future. The aim of the County
Council’s waste procurement programme is therefore to explore a
number of options for introducing non landfill facilities for the
treatment of residual municipal waste (the waste stream remaining
after the recyclable and compostable elements have been
removed).
Preliminary work undertaken by the County Council has narrowed
down the possible options for non landfill treatment of residual
waste to the following two options:
- Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) with the production of
refuse-derived fuel;
- Energy from waste (incineration with energy
recovery).
In addition to each technology type being assessed, the relative
merits of a single site solution or multiple location solution
across Suffolk have also been considered.
Strategic Environmental Assessment
The first main stage of the waste procurement programme is to
prepare an outline case, setting out the issues and highlighting
the potential options for the treatment of residual waste in the
medium- and long-term. This document, called the Strategic Outline
Case (SOC), was presented to Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet in
October 2006. Under EU legislation, it is necessary to prepare a
Strategic Environmental Assessment of the waste procurement
programme, and the final strategic environmental assessment report
– the Environmental Statement – accompanied the SOC when the
Cabinet considered the matter in October.
Strategic environmental assessment is a formal process to
identify the environmental impacts of proposed options within a
plan or programme, and then to make recommendations about
mitigation measures that might reduce any possible negative
impacts. A strategic environmental assessment has therefore been
carried out on the proposals outlined in the waste procurement
programme to assess and make recommendations as to which options
are most environmentally favourable. The strategic environmental
assessment also outlines the current state of Suffolk’s environment
and environmental data is used to assess the options and
alternatives of the waste procurement programme.
Any comments on this document should be sent to Adam Nicholls on
planning@et.suffolkcc.gov.uk