Ecological Assessment and Policy: Land Use Policy and SEA

The Principal of the company has extensive experience of drafting and reviewing ecological policy for Local Plans and more recently, Local Development Frameworks (LDFs).  As such, we can offer advice and expertise to Local Authorities on the ecological aspects required for LDFs.  We can also offer services in review of the ecological components of Development Plan Documents (DPDs) to assess their adequacy against the requirements of legislation and national and regional policy.  We can contribute expertise for the following:

• Advice on ecological information required for the Evidence Base;
• Drafting or review of ecological policy within DPDs including Core Strategies, Site Specific Allocations, Area Action Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents;
• Advice on ecological features to be shown on the Proposals Map;
• Advice on ecological indicators for Annual Monitoring Reports, including devising contextual and significance of effects indicators; and obtaining ecological information to measure the core output indicator on biodiversity.

We also have experience in the ecological aspects of Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of LDFs (incorporating the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment directive).  We can offer services in the review of Scoping Reports and SA Reports to assess their adequacy against the requirements of ecological legislation and national and regional ecological policy.  We can also contribute advice and expertise for the following for incorporation into Scoping Reports and/ or SA Reports as appropriate:

• Setting the ecological context (identifying other relevant plans and programmes and collecting baseline information);
• Scoping the ecological content of the SA (including identifying sustainability issues and problems and devising ecological objectives, indicators and targets for the SA framework);
• Assistance with developing and refining options, including examination of alternatives, through assessment of ecological impacts;
• Devising mitigation for ecological impacts;
• Advising on monitoring required for significant ecological impacts.

Links:

Ecological Assessment and Policy

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