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5.2 Outcomes from the scoping process
The SEA Regulationsrequire that consultation with stakeholders is an integral part of the SEAprocess, with feedback from these consultations being used to refine the planand /or programme. A key requirement is that consultation takes place withthe four environmental bodies (English Nature, the Environment Agency, EnglishHeritage and The Countryside Agency) to inform the scope of the assessment.
Summaries of the comments received from the agencies are as follows:
Summary of Comments Received
How comment taken on board in the SEA
English Heritage
LTP Temporal and Geographic Scope:
- The report should clarify the time period over which the assessment will be carried out (after the initial 5 year period);
- Inclusion of the neighbouring shire counties is welcomed;
- Should refer to the need to address interrelationships between the various environmental topics;
- The nature of the significant effects should be assessed or highlighted.
SEA will be superceded when the LTP is revised in 2011.
Inter-relationships between SEA topics addressed.
Relevant Plans and Programmes:
- Reference should be made to the Regional Visitor Economy Strategy and Regional Cultural Strategy;
- Regional Heritage Strategy should be removed.
Plans added/removed
Baseline:
- Additions to the baseline have been set out with regard to culture, heritage, open space and townscape.
- Heritage baseline data under-represented when compared to biodiversity, for example.
- Historic landscape characterisation should be highlighted.
Heritage baseline has been updated where data is available.
Limited heritage baseline data available to inform SEAs. Some indicators remain under development.
Proposed SEA Objectives:
- New cultural heritage objective suggested.
- Landscape and townscape objectives suggested to support historic environment.
“Save our Streets” campaign and street clutter audits should be utilised.
Heritage objective amended as suggested.
New landscape/townscape objective added.
“Save our Streets” referenced.
Next steps and Proposed Approach to the Assessment:
- An annex to the response has been provided by English Heritage setting out general considerations on the identification and appraisal of potential impacts on the historic environment.
- Careful consideration should be given before concluding that impacts on individual sites are not strategically significant;
- Recommended that broad interpretation of mitigation measures is adopted to accord with emerging Government guidance and the SEA Directive.
Guidance taken into account.
English Nature
LTP Temporal and Geographical Scope:
- Welcome the consideration of environmental impacts beyond the confines of the metropolitan area (especially aerial emissions and impacts on biodiversity and other environmental resources)
No action required
Relationship with other relevant plans and programmes:
- Additional plans and programmes should be taken into account, including PPG9/Draft PPS9 Biodiversity and Geological Conservation, Draft Regional Biodiversity Strategy, Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands and A Sustainability Strategy for the West Midlands.
Additional plans included in the review.
Biodiversity Action Plan reviewed for transport links.
Baseline:
- Comments have been made regarding the following sections; culture, heritage, open space and townscape, landscape character, air quality, waste and soil quality, biodiversity, SSSIs, local BAPS and the natural area.
- Impacts on designated sites outside WMMA should be considered.
Baseline updated to include proposed new indicators.
Candidate SACs within 10km of WMMA, and 2km SSSIs within 2km of the WMMA taken into consideration.
Identification of Environmental Problems:
- Detail is required for the following areas:
- Poor air quality;
- Impact of infrastructure development on biodiversity, soil and the water
- Poor accessibility and social exclusion;
Issues addressed in the assessment.
Developing SEA Objectives:
- Additional objectives are required as follows:
- ‘To ensure road transport generated emissions do not reduce air quality to levels which can adversely affect the condition of designated sites for nature conservation both within and outside the WMMA (air quality).
- Biodiversity objective should include i) No loss or damage to statutory nature conservation sites, nor any constraint on management of these sites to achieve favourable condition; ii) To conserve and enhance biodiversity and to maximise opportunities for achieving BAP targets.
- An additional sub-objective – Environmental Economy, should be considered.
Air quality objective remains as the more general one originally proposed.
Biodiversity objective amended as requested.
Environmental economy objective not incorporated.
Countryside Agency
Rural elements of the Meriden Gap and northern part of the WMMA should be considered in the assessment.
No local landscape character assessments have been undertaken.
Severance of rights of way by new infrastructure should be taken into account.
There are no National Trails within the WMMA.
Rural accessibility issues addressed.
Severance of footpaths and other rights of way included in the assessment.
No response was received from the Environment Agency, however generic comments issued by the Environment Agency in response to the SEAs of other LTPs
were used to inform the later stages of the SEA process.
Comments were not received from any of the other groups consulted at the scoping stage.
Due to the range of potential environmental impacts associated with the
Provisional LTP2 no topics were ‘scoped out’ of the assessment process. As a result the assessment has assessed the
likely environmental impacts of the LTP on the following environmental topics:
- Population;
- Human Health;
- Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna;
- Landscape;
- Cultural Heritage;
- Water;
- Soil;
- Climate Change;
- Material Assets; and
- Inter-relationships between
these topics.