Post-Adoption SEA Statement – Cover Note

Contents

• Post-adoption Statement: Key Facts
• Post-adoption Statement Strategic Environmental Assessment process
• How environmental considerations have been integrated into Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment
• Assessment and mitigation
• Significant positive effects identified in the Environmental Report
• Mitigation measures
• How opinions expressed during the consultation have been taken into account
• Monitoring Programme
• Reasons for choosing Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment 2017

Post-adoption Statement: Key Facts

This Post-Adoption document has been prepared in accordance with Section 18 of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment as adopted, along with the Final Environmental Report and Post-adoption Statement, is available on the Orkney Islands Council website at http://www.orkney.gov.uk. All three documents may also be inspected free of charge (or a copy obtained for a reasonable charge) from Monday to Friday between the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 at the Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall KW15 1NY.

Post-adoption Statement: Key Facts

Post-adoption Statement Strategic Environmental Assessment process

Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment (the SG) has been subject to a process of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), as required under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. This has included the following activities:

• Taking into account the views of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland) regarding the scope and level of detail that was appropriate for the Environmental Report.
• Preparing an Environmental Report on the likely significant effects on the environment of the draft SG which included consideration of:
  • the baseline data relating to the current state of the environment;
  • links between the SG and other relevant strategies, policies, plans, programmes and environmental protection objectives;
  • existing environmental problems affecting the SG;
  • the SG's likely significant effects on the environment (positive and negative);
  • measures envisaged for the prevention, reduction and offsetting of any significant adverse effects;
  • an outline of the reasons for selecting the alternatives chosen;
  • monitoring measures to ensure that any unforeseen environmental effects will be identified allowing for appropriate remedial action to be taken;
  • consulting on the Environmental Report;
  • taking into account the Environmental Report and the results of consultation in making final decisions regarding the SG; and
  • committing to monitoring the significant environmental effects of the implementation of the SG. This will also identify any unforeseen adverse significant environmental effects and to enable taking appropriate remedial action.

Table 1: SEA progress to date

How environmental considerations have been integrated into Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment

This section of the Post Adoption Statement sets out how environmental considerations have been taken into account when preparing Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment and how they have broadly influenced its shape. It provides information on how the following have been addressed in the Plan:

• Environmental issues identified by the Environmental Report
• Assessment and Mitigation
• Significant positive effects
• Significant negative effects

Environmental Issues

Table 2 below outlines the environmental issues which were identified in the Environmental Report and how these have been addressed in the preparation of Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment.

Table 2: Environmental Issues identified by the Environmental Report

Assessment and mitigation

Significant positive effects identified in the Environmental Report

Climatic factors

There is potential for moderate localised benefit, for example where measures may be undertaken to restore and protect damaged peatland, in line with guidance included in Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment.

The SG highlights some of the key benefits provided to society by the natural environment, for example the protection against coastal erosion and flood risk that is afforded by habitats such coastal sand dunes and geomorphological features such as shingle ayres. Similarly, it emphasises the role played by peat and soils in storing carbon, regulating water storage and removing pollutants from water. The inclusion of this information in the SG will help raise awareness of these benefits and should ensure that, where there is potential for development proposals to impact on habitats and features that provide ecosystem services such as these, appropriate mitigative or enhancement measures are put in place.

Biodiversity

There is potential for moderate localised benefit, for example where biodiversity enhancement projects are undertaken, in line with the guidance and suggestions included in the SG.

Throughout the document, information is provided on ways in which development can impact on the natural environment and biodiversity. For example Table 1 lists the range of protected species that can be found in Orkney and Table 2 highlights the vulnerability of these species to certain types of development. Emphasis is given to the importance of considering the effects of a development proposal on the natural environment at an early stage and providing the appropriate level of information to support a planning application.

There is potential for ecological surveys to be undertaken at inappropriate times of the year, resulting in the submission of poorly informed environmental reports to support planning applications. This issue has been addressed in the SG through the inclusion of an ecological survey calendar which outlines the appropriate timing of surveys and takes account of local variations in seasonality. Links are also provided to websites which provide more detailed guidance on survey methods.

The issue of invasive non-native species is addressed in section 2.8 where the potential for INNS to impact on the natural environment is explained, along with information on the legislative requirements and the responsibilities of developers to ensure that where INNS are found to be present on a site, they are dealt with appropriately and are not allowed to spread from the site. A link is provided to the Scottish Government’s Non-Native Species Code of Practice and guidance on how to manage INNS on development sites is also included.

Section 4 provides guidance and suggestions for biodiversity enhancement projects and a range of options for biodiversity are set out in table 6. These encourage the use of appropriate native species – again this will help avoid the introduction of non-native and potentially invasive species.

The LNCS boundary review resulted in the removal of 336.29 acres of semi-improved grassland from 43 sites, as well as a further 112.54 acres of improved grassland, arable land or tall ruderals. However the procedure followed when reviewing the LNCS included checks to ensure no reduction to the overall scoring of individual sites, therefore the removal of these areas is unlikely to lead to significant adverse effects on biodiversity, flora or fauna.

Water

There is potential for moderate localised benefit, for example where enhancement projects may be carried out in line with the guidance and suggestions included in Section 4 of the SG.

Section 2.6 sets out the Council’s duties in relation to the Water Framework Directive and the Water Environment and Water Services Act 2003, to protect, improve and promote the sustainable use of the water environment, as well as its purpose in ensuring that new development supports the delivery of River Basin Management Planning objectives.

The establishment of development-free buffer zones alongside waterbodies is promoted, as well as the need to ensure that private waste water treatment systems are appropriately sited and designed.

Some of the areas visited during the LNCS review were associated with small lochs and ponds and represented drier areas beyond the marshy margins, many of which are likely to be grazed on a seasonal basis. Others had no association with water bodies. The removal of areas of semi-improved grassland from Local Nature Conservation Sites is unlikely to impact significantly upon the water environment.

Soil

Effects are likely to be broadly neutral.

Changes recommended to the Local Nature Conservation Sites as a result of the boundary review are unlikely to impact upon peat or soils. None of the areas recommended for removal are underlain by peat and the LNCS designation has no influence on how they are managed for agriculture.

Geology

Effects are likely to be broadly neutral.

Changes to the Local Nature Conservation Sites as a result of the boundary review are unlikely to impact upon geology or geomorphology.

Interrelationships

Moderate benefit is likely.

Implementation of the SG is likely to lead to an increased awareness of the extent to which there is interrelationship between environmental receptors. It also provides information on the benefits provided by certain habitats and geomorphological features, perhaps most notably in their contribution towards mitigating and adapting to the effects of a changing climate and rising sea levels.

By providing information on a range of ways in which development can impact on the natural environment the SG seeks to ensure that appropriate measures can be identified to avoid or at least minimise these impacts.

Mitigation measures

Schedule 3 paragraph 7 of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 requires an explanation of “the measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and as fully as possible offset any significant adverse effects on the environment of implementing the plan or programme.”

The purpose of Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment is to protect the environment; assessment found that significant adverse environmental effects are unlikely to occur as a result of its implementation. There was therefore no need to identify mitigative measures.

How opinions expressed during the consultation have been taken into account

Responses received during consultation on the Scoping Report and Environmental Report associated with Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment are set out in Tables 3 and 4 below, along with an explanation of how these have been taken into account.

Table 3: Summary of Reponses to Consultation on the Scoping Report and Action Taken

Table 4: Summary of Reponses to Consultation on the Interim Environmental Report and Action Taken

Monitoring Programme

The purpose of monitoring is to ensure that any proposed mitigation is effective and that unexpected effects can be detected at an early stage, so that appropriate remedial action can be put in place. Over time it is expected that environmental benefits will become apparent through the trends highlighted by the monitoring programme. Monitoring will be used to provide essential information upon which to base future development policies.

In the Proposed Plan Environmental Report a set of monitoring indicators was identified which related closely to the SEA objectives for the Orkney Local Development Plan. These have since been updated, to take account of responses received during the consultation process and also to ensure that they can feasibly be monitored.

The full set of indicators is set out in Table 7 of the OLDP Post-adoption Statement and a sub-set of indicators which are relevant to Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment is reproduced in Table 5 below.

Table 5: Monitoring indicators

Reasons for choosing Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment 2017

Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment replaces the previous document Planning Policy Advice Natural Heritage which was published in 2012.

The Supplementary Guidance accompanies Policy 9 Natural Heritage and Landscape of the Orkney Local Development Plan 2017 which, in turn, reflects the current planning position of the Scottish Government as set out in Scottish Planning Policy 2014 and National Planning Framework 3.

It provides additional information on natural heritage designations, protected species, the wider biodiversity and geodiversity, the water environment, peat and soils and aims to help planning stakeholders fully consider the wildlife and environmental implications of proposals which require planning permission.

The SEA process has informed preparation of the Supplementary Guidance by identifying gaps in the previously available planning advice and also suggesting a number of policy areas where additional guidance and information would be useful, both to enable development-related environmental impacts to be avoided or minimised, and to encourage the incorporation of appropriate biodiversity enhancement measures into new development projects.

The Supplementary Guidance was assessed against a subset of the SEA objectives which were established for assessment of the Local Development Plan and it was found to demonstrate a high level of compatibility. Throughout the SEA process the Consultation Authorities have confirmed their agreement with these objectives and the overall assessment approach adopted.

Supplementary Guidance Natural Environment was approved by Orkney Islands Council on 9th March 2017 and formally adopted on 18 April 2017.