Environmental appraisal of UK development plans: current practice and future directions

Quality review package for strategic environmental assessments of land-use plans

“…It is not a requirement to produce the SEA report as a separate document in either the UK or Sweden (for a discussion of the SEA and land-use regulatory frameworks in these countries see Bonde, 1998;Käärik, 1997;Lerman, 1997;Hugne, 1996 for Sweden andCurran et al, 1998;Marsh, 1997 for the UK). At the same time, many land-use plans contain substantial sections on the environment and its protection, which are not necessarily consolidated in a self-contained document or section.…”

“…· formal regulations and guidance on SEA of land-use plans (the draft EU Directive on SEA, UK government guidance and Swedish official commentary to the Planning and Building Act); and · research publications reflecting SEA objectives, principles and best methodological and procedural practice, such as Lee and Walsh (1992), Thérivel and Partidário (1996), Curran, Wood and Hilton (1998), Käärik andSvensson (1998), Thérivel (1996), Sadler and Verheem (1996), and Sadler (1996).…”

“…In designing the review package, the formal requirements were thus supplemented by additional criteria derived from leading research publications on: a) SEA objectives and general principles, as identified by Thérivel and Partidário (1996), Lee and Walsh (1992), and other core SEA publications; and b) SEA methodology and procedures associated with good international practice, as reflected in Curran et al (1998), George (1997), Käärik and Svensson (1998), Sadler (1996), Sadler and Verheem (1996), Thérivel (1996), and other studies.…”

“…For example, Curran et al (1998) and Marsh (1997) identify a number of frequent flaws in SEAs of land-use (development) plans in the UK. These findings emphasise the need for quality improvements in SEA.…”

“…Authors on SEA frequently list quality review of the reports 1 as an essential component of an effective SEA process (see, for example, Curran et al, 1998;Asplund and Hilding-Rydevik, 1996;Sadler, 1996;Persson, 1994). One of the recommendations of the Austrian SEA workshop on the proposed EU SEA Directive (SEA Workshop Report, 1998) was that the European Commission and Member States should develop quality review guidance by which Member States will ensure SEA quality.…”