Sustainability appraisals and habitat regulations assessments

Local Plan Core Strategy Primary Plan Alteration

Warrington's Local Plan Core Strategy was adopted in July 2014. However, a landowner applied to the High Court to reverse the decision to adopt certain aspects of the Plan relating to housing. In February 2015, the High Court ruled in favour of the landowner on three of nine issues, which meant that the following parts of the Plan have been quashed.

• The housing target of 10,500 new homes (equating to 500 per year) between 2006 and 2027.
• References to 1,100 new homes at the Omega Strategic Proposal.

In response to the court ruling, the council is seeking to re-establish an appropriate housing target. This will involve gathering new evidence about housing supply and need, and testing the sustainability implications of the plan amendments (and any reasonable alternatives).

Sustainable development is central to the reformed planning system. When preparing DPDs and SPDs, Local Planning Authorities must also conduct an Environmental Assessment in accordance with the requirements of the European Directive 2001/42/EC (the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive).

The purpose of Sustainability Appraisal (SA) (made mandatory under Section 39(2) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004) is to promote sustainable development through the integration of social, environmental and economic considerations into the preparation of new Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs).

It's now common for Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment to be undertaken as one process. The SA/SEA report must then be taken into account, alongside consultation responses when finalising the plan alteration.

Sustainability appraisal

EU Directive 2001/42/EC and subsequent UK Regulations introduced the requirement for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to all plans and programmes that have a significant environmental effect. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 made the broader Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process a requirement for certain documents produced as part of a Local Planning Framework.

The purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal is to promote sustainable development through the integration of social, environmental and economic considerations.

The Habitats Regulation Assessment is an assessment of the potential effects of proposed plans or projects (either alone or in combination with other plans and projects) of one or more European sites of nature conservation importance known as Natura 2000.

The purpose of the HRA exercise is to establish and report the nature and likely scale of effects on of the individual Natura 2000 sites, particularly where the potential for significant effects has been identified

As a result the HRA process suggests a number of mitigation measures and alternatives to the plan in question, which if implemented, would remove the potential for significant effects on the Natura 2000 sites.