As part of the preparation of the Emerging Local Plan an appraisal of the social, environmental and economic impact of the plan must be carried out. This appraisal is known as Sustainability Appraisal (SA).

In addition to SA, Local Plans must comply with the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), in accordance with European Directive 2001/42/EC, to ensure that environmental effects are given full consideration alongside social and economic issues when preparing the Local Plan. Therefore, the requirements of the SEA Directive have been incorporated into the SA scoping process.

In order to identify the scope and level of detail of the information to be included in the SA, a Draft Scoping Report has been produced.

Consultation

Between 10 October and 21 November 2016 the Council consulted with Historic England, Natural England, the Environment Agency and other relevant bodies on the content of the Scoping Report. Whilst this was primarily a technical consultation, other organisations and individuals were able to submit representations.

Following the consultation, work is ongoing to finalise the Scoping Report and Sustainability Appraisal Framework.

Download the Draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report