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Sustainability Appraisals

Please note

This page relates to the 2012 West Lancashire Local Plan.  We have carried out more recent sustainability appraisal (SA) work as part of the Local Plan Review.

• Find out more about the Local Plan Review SA

The Process

One of the main principles behind the new planning system is sustainable development. To help achieve this, we are required to carry out an SA on many of our Local Plan documents.

SA is a process which looks at the possible effects of policies or proposals on the environment. We use the resulting information as we prepare planning documents.

Government regulations set out how SA reports are to be prepared and consulted on and the SA process involves several stages (labelled Stages A-E). The first stage in carrying out an SA is to do a 'Scoping Report', specifying what the SA will cover (i.e. its scope), and when it will be produced.

Scoping Report 2010 (Stage A)

The first draft of the LDF Scoping Report was prepared in 2007, and aims to ensure that the SA will be comprehensive enough to support all the future LDF documents that we produce. In line with government regulations, we consulted a select number of statutory bodies.

• Download the draft LDF Scoping Report (PDF 3.3mb)
• Download the baseline data (2009) (PDF 530kb)

Scoping Report 2010 (Stage A)

In light of the comments received, and consultants advice, we amended the Scoping Report in 2010. It is split into different sections.

• Download A0 - Introduction to the SA and Scoping Report (PDF 256kb)
• Download A1 - Context Review (PDF 39kb)
• Download A2 - Baseline Evidence (PDF 53kb)
• Download A3 - Sustainability Issues (PDF 22kb)
• Download A4 - SA Framework (PDF 41kb)
• Download A5 - Consultation Statement (PDF 41kb)
• Download Appendix A1 (PDF 152kb)
• Download Appendix A2 (PDF 4mb)
• Download Appendix A3 (PDF 45kb)
• Download Appendix A5 (PDF 37kb)

Interim Sustainability Appraisal (Stage B, C)

To accompany our Core Strategy Options Paper, we prepared a ‘Interim Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulation Assessment' (Appropriate Assessment).

• Download the Interim Sustainability Appraisal (PDF 577kb)
• Download the Interim Habitats Regulation Assessment (PDF 53kb)

Sustainability Appraisal (Stage B, C, D)

Our Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) for the Core Strategy Preferred Options, was published alongside the main document in May 2011. A consultation period enabled any comments on the SA or HRA to be sent to the Council.  A further Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) was undertaken in response to the changes made on the Local Plan Preferred Options paper, and published in January 2012.

• View the Preferred Options and Sustainability Appraisals (May 2011)
• View the Local Plan Preferred Options and Sustainability Appraisals (January 2012)

A final SA was then undertaken on the Local Plan Publication document, following changes made on the Local Plan Preferred Options as a result of consultation responses.

• View the Local Plan Publication Sustainability Appraisals (August 2012)

A further SA and HRA was then conducted on the Local Plan Main Modifications document, following the recommendations of the Planning Inspector during the Examination process.

• View the Main Modification Appraisals (June 2013)

The Local Plan was adopted 16 October 2013. Alongside it, a SA Statement was produced, documenting the SA and HRAs undertaken at each stage of the process, and how the Local Plan was modified as a result of findings and comments.

• View the SA Statement (October 2013)

Monitoring (Stage E) When the Local Plan is adopted, it will then be monitored. More information on this will be available in the Annual Monitoring Reports.