CLIENT:
Cork City Council
PROJECT NAME: REPORT TITLE:
Cork City Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy
SEA Environmental Report
5. STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES
The SEA Directive states that an SEA should also look at 'the environmental protection objectives, established at international, Community or Member State level, which are relevant to the plan or programme and the way those objectives and any environmental considerations have been taken into account during its preparation.' The identification of environmental protection objectives relevant to a plan provide a basis for evaluating the significance of impacts during the SEA process. All environmental protection objectives relevant to the Strategy have been identified. Strategic Environmental Objectives (SEOs) are methodological measures which facilitate the development of targets against which the environmental effects of the Strategy can be tested. SEOs are based on wider environmental protection objectives on local, regional, national, European and international level that are relevant to the Strategy. They are high-level in nature and set strategic goals for environmental protection and improvement. In this section, SEOs were defined for a range of environmental components. These SEOs can be used as standards against which the environmental effects of the implementation of the Strategy can be measured and evaluated. The developed of these objectives assisted with ensuring that the SEA focused only on those environmental issues that are most relevant and significant to the Strategy and the Study Area. The development of SEOs was appropriately informed by the SEA Scoping stage of the SEA process, and the SEA consultation undertaken. All SEOs applicable to the Strategy are presented in Table 5-1. Table 5-1: Strategic Environmental Objectives
Environmental Component
SEO Code
Strategic Environmental Objective
Ensure, where appropriate, that lower-level plans and projects contribute to overall environmental monitoring processes within Cork City.
Overall
O1
Population & Human Health
PHH1 PHH2
Avoid or minimise impacts to population and human health.
Ensure Electric Vehicle infrastructure avoids and minimises impacts to the existing economic activities within the area and does not compromise/conflict with existing land use objectives. Ensure supported development does not conflict with biodiversity protection, restoration and rehabilitation. Ensure compliance with all legislation underpinning biodiversity and nature conservation in Ireland, including the Wildlife Acts 1976 to 2023. Avoid impacts on features of the landscape which - by virtue of their linear and continuous structure or their function as 'stepping stones' (designated or not) - are of major importance for wild fauna and flora and essential for the migration, dispersal and genetic exchange of wild species. To avoid or minimise significant impacts on semi-natural habitats, species, environmental features, or other sustaining resources at important sites, including locally important sites. No net contribution to biodiversity losses or deterioration in response to the biodiversity emergency.
Biodiversity, Flora & Fauna
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
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P23-206
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