Sustainability Appraisals

Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment

Sustainability Appraisal (SA) is a tool that helps to ensure that the spatial planning process and its policies and proposals make a positive contribution to sustainable development.

It involves developing a sound understanding of the environmental, social and economic characteristics and priorities of the area, and then ensuring that they are integrated into planning policies. The SA of Winchester LDF documents also incorporates the requirements of Strategic Environmental Assessment, a process that considers the effects of development planning on the environment.

A Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report was initially published for public consultation during 2007 which informed the development of a Sustainability Appraisal framework against which emerging options, policies and proposals were assessed in a consistent and methodical manner. The framework was agreed by the Council's Cabinet (LDF) Committee in December 2007.

The framework has been used to asses the emerging options, policies and proposals of the Local Plan Part 1 - Joint Core Strategy at the following stages:-

Core Strategy - Scoping Report

Core Strategy - Issues and Options

Core Strategy - Preferred Option

Joint Core Strategy - Pre-submission

You can view the Sustainability Appraisal produced for each of these stages by clicking on the relevant weblink above.

The results of each stage of the appraisal informed the preparation of the policies of the next stage of the emerging Joint Core Strategy to ensure that they promoted sustainable development through the integration of environmental, social and economic considerations.

Where appropriate, recommendations for enhancement and mitigation were made. A summary of how these recommendations have been taken into account for the Pre-Submission Joint Core Strategy has also been provided.

Habitat Regulations Appropriate Assessment

A screening assessment on the Preferred Option was carried out under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended). Please use this link to see a copy of the Habitats Regulations Screening Assessment of the Preferred Option.

The Screening Assessment was used to inform the Appropriate Assessment of the Pre-Submission Joint Core Strategy which can be viewed using the following weblink:- Habitats Regulations Appropriate Assessment of the Pre-Submission version of the Joint Core Strategy.