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Sustainability Appraisal

Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the District Council needs to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of each of the Local Development Documents (LDDs) it produces. SA aims to ensure that the policies and proposals in an LDD reflect the principles of sustainable development.

Sustainable development involves meeting four broad aims at the same time:

• social progress which recognises the needs of everyone;
• effective protection of the environment;
• prudent use of natural resources; and
• maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

SA 'tests' the degree to which each LDD promotes sustainable development. To ensure that this testing process is objective, the Council has commissioned independent consultants Scott Wilson and Levett-Therivel to undertake the SA.

SA involves five stages and the preparation of three key reports (see Figure 1). Stage A of the process involves establishing:

• the context in which the LDDs are being prepared - the influence of other plans and programmes on the LDDs;
• a series of objectives for sustainable development - these provide the 'benchmark' against which the policies and proposals in the LDDs are assessed;
• the economic, social and environmental baseline for Dover (i.e. the current and future state of the area) - this provides an evidence base to inform the SA; and
• the economic, social and environmental problems facing Dover - the identification of sustainability problems helps to determine the issues the LDDs should concentrate on and for which options should be developed by the Council.

Stage B involves assessing the various options for the future of the Dover area. Once the preferred options have been chosen, these are once again appraised at Stage C. Stage D involves consulting stakeholders and the Community on the LDD and the accompanying SA Report and Stage E involves developing indicators for monitoring the implementation of the LDD on the ground.

Figure 1. The approach to SA and the key reports prepared

 

The SA reports will be distributed to key stakeholders for consultation and will be placed on the Council's website. Stakeholders and the community will be provided with an appropriate length of time in which to comment.

The District Council has undertaken detailed consultation as part of Stage A in the form of a SA workshop with key stakeholders and Kent wide organisations to discuss the context, objectives, baseline and sustainability problems that are facing the District.

SEA/SA of Dover and Sevenoaks LDFs - Scoping Workshop on 21 September 2004
Workshop Workbook
Scoping Workshop - Participants Feedback
Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of the Dover Local Development Framework (1.28mb)
Dover Scoping Report
      Figure 1 - Wildlife Designations
      Figure 2 - Landscape Designations
      Figure 3 - Flood Risk Areas (1,759kb)
      Figure 4 - Conservation Areas / Listed Buildings
      Figure 5 - IMD Base (748kb)
      Figure 6 - IMD Crime (748kb)
      Figure 7 - IMD Barriers (748K)
      Figure 8 - IMD Education (749K)
      Figure 9 - IMD Employment (748kb)
      Figure 10 - IMD Living Environment (748kb)
      Figure 11 - IMD Health (748kb)
      Figure 12 - IMD Income (1,972kb)
Dover Strategic options (1,693kb)
Briefing Note 1– SA of the Core Strategy (110kb)
Briefing Note 2 – SA of the Site Allocations Document (117kb)
LDF Scoping Report Addendum (302kb)

Contact: Adrian Fox
Tel: 01304 872474
E-mail: forwardplanning@dover.gov.uk