The main SA Report can be downloaded from the 'Read more' box on the right of this page. The appendices to the report can be downloaded by clicking on the 'Issues and Options SA documents' box on the right of this page.
The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process is a way of ensuring that documents within the Local Development Framework, such as the Core Strategy are compatible with the aims of sustainable development.
The Council has produced an Initial SA Report for consultation to accompany the Issues and Options document. The Initial SA Report has been prepared to demonstrate how the two options for each urban extension contained within the Core Strategy perform in sustainability terms, within the context of the key physical, ecological and archaeological constraints in each area. This will enable the commencement of the necessary dialogue with stakeholders in the further refinement and development of this work. It will also enable other options that will potentially be provided through the Issues and Options consultation to be asseseed in a consistent and robust way. The Initial SA Report also sets out an appraisal of the Core Strategy objectives as well as updated baseline data in the form of a set of Community Profiles.
It is important to note that the Regional Spatial Strategy sets many of the principles included in the Issues and Options document, such as the level of growth and broad locations for development. Therefore the SA process for the Core Strategy cannot re-visit nor appraise the sustainability of these principles. While South Gloucestershire Council does have grave concerns regarding the sustainability of many of the principles set out in the RSS and the Panel Report, the SA process is bound by these parameters.
It is not a statutory requirement of the Sustainability Appraisal process to publish an SA Report at the Issues and Options stage of the Core Strategy’s production. However the Council published the Initial SA Report to demonstrate from the earliest possible opportunity how the options presented in the Issues and Options document have been appraised for sustainability.
The SA Scoping Report is available in the Read more box on the right of the screen. This was approved by the Council in March 2008 and forms the basis for all Sustainability Appraisals conducted on all Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents in the South Gloucestershire Local Development Framework.