1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.1.1 Unitary Development Plans now lie at the heart of the planning system and planning decisions are to be taken in accordance with those plans unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The strengthening of the plan-led system, together with the requirement that local planning authorities should take account of the environment in its widest sense when preparing their Unitary Development Plans, potentially has enormous benefits for the environment. It means that the scale of development should only be that specified in the plan and only take place in the intended locations, and critical aspects of the environment can be protected from adverse development.
1.1.2 The Government has made clear its intention to work towards ensuring that development and growth are sustainable. Unitary Development Plans have a key role to play in achieving this goal by ensuring that future generations are not denied the best of today’s environments. The Assembly has advised that all policies and proposals should take environmental, social and economic considerations into account. A sustainability appraisal is therefore an essential tool to help achieve this when preparing Unitary Development Plans.
1.2 POLICY APPRAISAL
1.2.1 The Government has published a good practice guide (1993) to assist in the appraisal of Development Plan policies. The Council’s approach has embraced this guidance and provides a full explanation of the assessment for each policy in the Supplementary Planning Guidance document ‘Monmouthshire Unitary Development Plan - Sustainability Appraisal’.
1.2.2 Each policy has been assessed under the following headings: -
Global Sustainability:
Conserve transport energy.
Reducing pollution by fixing CO2 emissions
Protect biodiversity by preserving wildlife habitats.
Natural Resources:
Improve / protect air quality
Ensure water conservation and its quality.
Protect land and soil quality.
Ensure the conservation of minerals.
Local Environmental Quality:
Make the built environment liveable.
Ensure public safety and welfare.
Protect cultural heritage.
Ensure public access to open space.
Protect / revitalise environmental character and diversity.
Improve the quality of life.
Improve the quality and design of buildings.
1.3 THE APPRAISAL PROCESS
1.3.1 The Sustainability Appraisal has been carried out as an integral part of the Unitary Development Plan preparation process. It was carried out systematically as the Unitary Development Plan was progressed from the development of plan strategy, to Part I objectives to the formulation of Part II policies. Policies that were considered to be unnecessarily damaging to the interests of environmental protection were reviewed or deleted.
1.3.2 The criteria against which the policies have been assessed are broad and the scoring has been based upon judgement of the likely overall balance of the different effects of the policy and are necessarily subjective.
1.3.3 The intention is that the Sustainability Appraisal will be an ongoing exercise with any policy or proposal changes being reviewed at each stage of the Plan’s progression to formal adoption. The production of the Supplementary Planning Guidance “Monmouthshire Unitary Development Plan - Sustainability Appraisal” will produce a transparent audit trail of changes made to the Unitary Development Plan and their likely effects upon Monmouthshire.
1.3.4 Comments received on the Pre-Deposit UDP, together with the results of the Pre-Deposit Environmental Appraisal, have helped ensure that the policies developed in the Deposit UDP minimise any adverse impacts. This process has helped to contribute to a more sustainable approach to development in Monmouthshire. Policies that were considered to be unnecessarily damaging were reviewed after the consultation period.
1.4 KEY APPRAISAL FINDINGS
1.4.1 Following representations received to the Deposit Plan, a number of pre inquiry changes were proposed. These changes were the subject of sustainability appraisal, using a similar methodology to that used for the Deposit Plan, updated to reflect the new Good Practice Guidance on Sustainability Appraisal issued by the Assembly Government in 2002.
1.4.2 The representations received to the pre inquiry changes, the public inquiry and the Inspector’s Report into objections to the Deposit Plan may all be regarded as further forms of appraisal. The proposed modifications to the Plan have also been subject to sustainability appraisal using the same methodology as previous Plan appraisals to provide for comparison.
1.4.3 The issue of new national planning guidance by the Assembly Government ‘Planning Policy Wales’, 2002, included a number of additional policy areas which were not addressed in the Deposit Plan and also amended previous Government planning guidance in certain areas. New policies and amendments to existing policies were incorporated in the Pre Inquiry Changes to reflect this new guidance, including new policies on:
- Energy conservation and generation from renewable sources (Part 1)
- The Blaenavon World Heritage Site
- Hazardous installations
- Foul sewage
- Lighting
- Cycle/motorcycle storage/parking facilities
- The positive management of landscape features of major importance for wild flora and fauna and
- Local walling and building stone.
1.4.4 These new policies have been retained and further modified, as recommended by the Inspector, to provide improved clarity of guidance. The appraisal of all new policies records positive impacts, particularly in terms of global sustainability, natural resources and local environmental quality criteria.
1.4.5 Additional new policies on:
- surface water runoff,
- residential extensions and
- advance tourism signs
are proposed as modifications further to the Inspector’s recommendations. These generally record positive appraisal impacts, particularly on natural resources and local environmental quality appraisal criteria.
1.4.6 The proposed modification to Strategic Housing Policy (SP3) reflects the Inspector’s recommended increased housing target. It is recognised that the development of greenfield housing sites will have negative impacts on particular appraisal criteria but which must be balanced against the provision of new residential development in Monmouthshire.
1.4.7 The detailed appraisal of the proposed additional housing allocations demonstrates that more positive appraisal results are recorded on brownfield and town centre sites which are closer to local facilities, minimising transport generation. Proposed site allocations are generally within existing settlements thus recording positive impacts on a range of appraisal criteria. Smaller sites record less positive impacts due to their more limited potential for the provision of on-site facilities.
1.4.8 The deletion of several road schemes unlikely to be implemented within the plan period records positive appraisal impacts on global sustainability and provides an increased level of certainty to the Plan reader.
1.4.9 The Minerals Chapter has been further modified following the Inspector’s recommendations to help to ensure the conservation of mineral resources for future generations.
1.4.10 Proposed modifications to the Waste Chapter generally improve global sustainability by encouraging waste to be disposed of locally or to be recycled. However, it is also recognised that disposing of a greater quantity of waste locally could have adverse impacts on local environmental quality and natural resources.
1.4.11 The overall quality of the Plan has been improved by modifications in terms of policy drafting and strength of policy justification, which in turn have been further enhanced through appraisal. The main modifications include the updating of policies and reasoned justifications to reflect the most recent circumstances. Further amendments have been made to improve policy clarity, remove duplication, ensure greater internal consistency and provide unified guidance. Additional references have also been inserted helping to demonstrate Plan linkages to other relevant documents.