SEA Environmental Report Appendix III: Non-Technical Summary
Section 1 Introduction and Terms of Reference This is the Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Report for the Cork City Development Plan 2022- 2028. The purpose of the Environmental Report is to provide a clear understanding of the likely environmental consequences of decisions regarding the adoption and implementation of the Plan. The Environmental Report has been prepared as part of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process for the Plan. What is SEA? SEA is a systematic process of predicting and evaluating the likely environmental effects of implementing a proposed plan, or other strategic action, in order to ensure that these effects are appropriately addressed at the earliest appropriate stage of decision-making on a par with economic, social and other considerations. Why is SEA needed? The Benefits The SEA has been carried out in order to comply with the provisions of the European SEA Directive and in order to enable sustainable development and environmental protection and management. 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. Compact development can be accompanied by placemaking initiatives to enable the City, including its surrounding settlements, to become more desirable places to live – so that they maintain and improve services to existing and future communities. SEA provides greater 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 is shown on Figure 1.1. The Plan directs incompatible development away from the most sensitive areas in the City and focuses on directing: compact, sustainable development within and adjacent to the existing built-up footprint of the City, including its surrounding settlements; and sustainable development elsewhere. Development of areas within and adjacent to the existing built-up footprint, which are generally more robust, better serviced and better connected, will contribute towards environmental protection and sustainable development, including climate mitigation and adaptation. Compatible sustainable development in the City’s sensitive areas is also provided for, subject to various requirements relating to environmental protection and management being met. How does the SEA work? All of the main environmental issues in the area were assembled and considered by the team who prepared the Plan. This helped them to devise a Plan that contributes towards the protection and management of environmental sensitivities. It also helped to identify wherever potential conflicts between
the Plan and the environment exist and enabled these conflicts to be mitigated. The SEA was scoped in consultation with designated environmental authorities.
CAAS for Cork City Council
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