SEA Environmental Report for the Draft Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028
Section 1 SEA: Introduction and Benefits
1.1 Introduction This is the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Environmental Report for the Draft Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028. It has been undertaken by CAAS Ltd. on behalf of Cork City Council. The purpose of this report is to provide a clear understanding of the likely environmental consequences of decisions regarding the adoption and implementation of the Plan. Environmental assessment is a procedure that ensures that the environmental implications of decisions are taken into account before such decisions are made. Environmental Impact Assessment , or EIA, is generally used for describing the process of environmental assessment for individual projects, while Strategic Environmental Assessment or SEA is the term which has been given to the environmental assessment of plans and programmes, which help determine the nature and location of individual projects taking place. SEA is a systematic process of predicting and evaluating the likely significant environmental effects of implementing a proposed plan or programme, in order to ensure that these effects are adequately addressed at the earliest appropriate stages of decision-making in tandem with economic, social and other considerations. The SEA is being undertaken in order to comply with European SEA Directive 1 , which introduced the requirement that SEA be carried out on plans and programmes that are prepared for a number of sectors, including land use planning. 1.2 Implications for the Planning Authority SEA identifies the likely significant environmental effects of implementing the Plan. The findings of the SEA are expressed in this Environmental Report, which accompanies the Draft Plan on public display and identifies
how environmental considerations were integrated into the Plan and how alternatives for the Plan were considered. This report may be updated in order to take account of recommendations contained in submissions and/or in order to take account of any changes which are made to the Draft Plan on foot of submissions. The planning authority must take into account the findings of this report and other related SEA output during their consideration of the Draft Plan and before it is adopted. When the Draft Plan is finalised, an SEA Statement must be prepared which will summarise, inter alia, how environmental considerations have been integrated into the Plan. 1.3 Why SEA? The Benefits SEA is the planning authority’s and the public’s guide to what are generally the best areas for development in the City. SEA enables the planning authority to direct development towards robust, well-serviced and connected areas in the City – thereby facilitating the general avoidance of incompatible areas in the most sensitive, least well-serviced and least well-connected areas. SEA provides greater certainty to the public and to developers. Plans are more likely to be adopted without delays or challenges and planning applications are more likely to be granted permission. Environmental mitigation is more likely to cost less. An overlay of environmental sensitivities in Cork City are shown on Figure 1.1. Further detail on the weighting applied to different sensitivities is provided under Section 4.14.
1 Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of Ministers, of 27 th June 2001, on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, transposed into Irish Law through the European Communities (Environmental Assessment of Certain Plans and Programmes) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 435 of 2004), as amended by the
European Communities (Environmental Assessment of Certain Plans and Programmes) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI No. 200 of 2011), and the Planning and Development (SEA) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 436 of 2004), as amended by the Planning and Development (SEA) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI No. 201 of 2011).
CAAS for Cork City Council
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