State of the Environment Report: Working Note on SEA Objectives

Background

A new Local Plan covering the North Lanarkshire Council area is in the preliminary stages of development.  The new Local Plan will be subject to both a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to ensure that development in North Lanarkshire is guided by the Plan in a sustainable way.

The development of the Local Plan and the SEA and SA of the Plan depends upon a comprehensive and up-to-date environmental baseline.  A State of the Environment Report (SoER) has been commissioned to establish this.  The baseline information will also feed into the development of the policies in the Plan and enable effective monitoring of the effects of the Plan during its implementation. 

The development of the environmental baseline forms the key preliminary stage of the SEA process.  It is important, not only in collating a baseline view on environmental conditions in the study area for the Local Plan, but also in feeding into the development of objectives for the Plan's appraisal through identification of key environmental issues and problems.

Purpose of this Report

To ensure that the Local Plan is moving towards sustainable development, North Lanarkshire Council needs to be clear about what it wants to achieve in terms of the protection, conservation and development of the environment.  To achieve this, the Council must have a set of clear environmental objectives to enable the Local Plan's environmental performance to be assessed.

This Working Note outlines the context, process and outcomes of the development of objectives for the SEA of the new Local Plan, and suggests a set of draft objectives and sub-objectives which could be taken forward for the SEA process.

Layout of the Report

• Approach - outlines the approach to the identification of objectives and indicators for the SEA of the Local Plan;
  • Approach to Development of Objectives
• Review of Strategies, Plans and Programmes - describes the review of relevant objectives from Strategies, Plans and Programmes applicable to the Local Plan SEA;
  • Approach
  • SPPs Reviewed
• Analysis of Environmental Assets - presents a brief overview of the findings of the analysis of the environmental baseline which has been undertaken through the State of the Environment Report for North Lanarkshire;
  • Approach
  • Issues Identified from SoER
• Workshop Feedback - summarises the feedback and findings from the workshop held during the SoER project;
  • Purpose of the Workshop
  • Workshop Findings
• Proposed SEA Objectives - discusses the synthesis of proposed appraisal objectives for the SEA of the Council-wide Local Plan;
  • Introduction
  • Synthesis of Objectives
  • Proposed SEA Objectives
  • Vision for the Environment
• Monitoring Indicators - provides a short commentary on issues related to monitoring of the local plan and identifies possible monitoring indicators for the SEA.
  • Introduction
  • Proposed Monitoring Indicators

Appendix A - List of Strategies, Plans and Programmes Reviewed

• National Level
• Regional Level
• Local Level 

Appendix B - Relevant Objectives Identified from Strategies, Plans and Programmes

• Local  (North Lanarkshire)
• Regional (Glasgow and Clyde Valley)
• National 

Appendix C - List of Objectives Structured by Environmental Topic

• Land Use
• Ecology
• Aquatic Environment
• Geology and Soils
• Waste and Resources
• Energy
• Landscape
• Cultural Heritage
• Air Quality and Noise
• Communities
• Cumulative 

Appendix D - Completed Workshop Tables

• Land Use
• Ecology
• Aquatic Environment
• Geology and Soils
• Waste and Resources
• Energy
• Landscape
• Cultural Heritage
• Air Quality and Noise
• Communities

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