Section 39 of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act requires local development documents to be prepared with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development. At the heart of sustainable development is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for future generations. A widely used definition was drawn up by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Local planning authorities must comply with European Union Directive 2001/42/EC which requires formal strategic environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Sustainability appraisal is a systematic and iterative appraisal process. The main purpose of sustainability appraisal is to appraise the social, environmental and economic effects of plan strategies and policies, from the outset of the preparation process, so that decisions can be made that accord with the objectives of sustainable development. Local planning authorities, in preparing local development documents must fulfil the minimum requirements of sustainability appraisal. It should be started as soon as a new or revised local development document is first considered, and should provide input at each stage when decisions are taken.
Sustainability appraisal should also be used in developing the arrangements for monitoring the implementation of the plan, which should lead to the identification of issues to inform the need for action or the revision/replacement of a local development document.
The scoping report and scoping report feedback and responses following a consultation period in early 2007 are available here.
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Scoping Report (PDF 957KB) - 28/08/2007
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Consultation Responses (PDF 150KB) - 28/08/2007
Since 2007, there have been significant planning changes. To take account of these and changes to our agreed Local Development Scheme projects, the Council determined it was necessary to do a review of the 2007 scoping report and its associated objectives to ensure that they are as current as possible. The review was carried out in Spring 2009. This included a consultation period in early 2009 with statutory consultees . The reports are available here.
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Scoping Report - June 2009 (PDF 929KB) - 13/07/2009
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Consultation Responses (PDF 150KB) - 13/07/2009
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AONB Map (PDF 7596KB) - 13/07/2009
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Flood Risk (PDF 8967KB) - 13/07/2009
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Groundwaters (PDF 13877KB) - 13/07/2009
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Indices of Multiple Deprivation (PDF 8159KB) - 13/07/2009
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Locations of SPA, SAC and SSSI (PDF 7317KB) - 13/07/2009
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Stroud District (PDF 310KB) - 13/07/2009
There are a number of key stages to the sustainability appraisal process set out below.
