Sustainability Appraisal

A Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of Local Development Documents is required under the new planning system; by law this must also incorporate the requirements of the European Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (SEA). The main purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal process is to predict the positive and negative impacts of policies, whether social, environmental or economic, at an early stage, allowing any negative effects to be mitigated against. The appraisal is subject to consultation, and takes place alongside the preparation of the Local Development Document. The key consultation stages are:

Scoping Report: provides a profile of the geographic area that the relevant plan relates to highlighting key assets and issues relevant to the area. Consultation occurs with the 3 statutory agencies for a period of 5 weeks.
Initial Report: an initial appraisal of the issues; development and refinement of the options; public consultation on the initial report (in parallel with consultation on the issues and options of the Development Plan Document).
Interim Report: this appraises the emerging policies in terms of the economic, social and environmental impacts that might be expected. (consultation is parallel to the first Draft of the Development Plan Document)
Final Report: appraisal of the effects of the preferred option for the Development Plan Document; public consultation on the final report (in parallel with consultation on the preferred option for the Development Plan Document).
Final Report revised (if necessary): appraisal of the submitted Development Plan Document following any revisions to the preferred option. Public consultation on the submitted Development Plan Document may have implications for the final Sustainability Appraisal report.
Post Adoption Statement: any changes that may be required as a result of the examination in public of the Development Plan Document.

Scoping Report

Arun produced a Scoping Report [pdf] 328KB which set out the baseline and future objectives and indicators for the process. This has been subject to a period of Consultation [pdf] 69KB with expert and knowledgeable bodies and will now be used as the benchmark for the future appraisal of Arun’s Local Development Documents. Following this the Council decided to employ EDAW to work on the sustainability appraisal of the Core Strategy and this is discussed in the following paragraphs.

A District Analysis Baseline Report was also produced to inform the preparation of the Core Strategy and the sustainability appraisal. This provides evidence of the current characteristics of Arun and the key issues and challenges facing Arun. To view the District Analysis Baseline Report please click on the following link: District Baseline Report [pdf] 7MB

A Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report was produced by consultants. This sets the context and scope of the Sustainability Appraisal and identifies sustainability issues and objectives for Arun. To view the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report please click on the following link: Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report [pdf] 3MB.

Sustainability Commentary (Initial Report)

As part of the Core Strategy Options for Growth consultation, an initial Sustainabilty Commentay [pdf] 485KB report was prepared to look at the relative merits of the options that were being consulted upon. For further information about the Core Strategy ’Options for Growth’ Consultation please click on the following link: Core Strategy ’Options for Growth’ Consultation.

Interim Report

A PDF version of the Sustainability Appraisal that appraised the first Arun Draft Local Plan (2013 - 2028) can be downloaded using the following link:Sustainability Appraisal of Local Plan [pdf] 2MB. The Technical Appendices that considers all the sustainability sub-objectives in the framework is available here: Full Technical Appendices to Sustainability Appraisal of Local Plan [pdf] 974KB.

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