In addition, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of all Development Plan Documents. Government guidance is that a Sustainability Appraisal can and should be undertaken in a manner which also meets the requirements of Strategic Environmental Assessment.

Government guidance on the requirements of SEA and SA on the Development Plan Documents is set out in Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial Planning (paragraphs 4.39-4.43) published in June 2008 and in specific ODPM (now DCLG) guidance published in November 2005. There is also separate guidance on the Sustainability Appraisal required on the development of Municipal Waste Management Strategies.

The approach taken in the Sustainability Appraisal of the Development Plan and the Waste Strategy is to undertake a single project to appraise them together so as to ensure that the appraisals are consistent and duplication of work is avoided. There is also an identified need to appraise existing waste management strategies to establish whether or not there is scope for improvements in waste reduction and recycling.

Each significant stage in the preparation of both the Plan and Strategy will need to be accompanied by a report that appraises its sustainability.

The first stage in Sustainability Appraisal was the preparation of a Scoping Report for consultation with relevant environmental authorities and other stakeholders. These are the Environment Agency, English Heritage, English Nature and Countryside Agency (The latter two agencies are now part of Natural England). The purpose is to obtain their views and guidance on undertaking the subsequent stages of the Sustainability Appraisal.

In accordance with Government guidance, the scope of the Sustainability Appraisal is described in the following terms:

• The key sustainability issues in the West of England
• Criteria for the appraisals, and
• Alternatives to be assessed.

These elements are described in the Scoping Report for the Sustainability Appraisal of the West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy prepared on behalf of the four constituent Authorities by consultants ERM which was funded through the DEFRA Direct Consultancy Support Fund, part of the Waste Implementation Programme Local Authority Support Unit.
Following consideration of the views and guidance of relevant environmental authorities and other stakeholders on the approach described in the Scoping Report (Stage A), future stages are as follows:

Stage B – Developing, appraising and refining options.
Stage C – Appraising in detail the effects of the Preferred Option(s) and documenting the process in the Sustainability Appraisal Report.
Stage D – Consulting on the Sustainability Appraisal Report for the Joint Waste Development Plan Document and the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.
Stage E – Monitoring and Implementation of the Plan.

In order that other stakeholders and the public may be kept informed as to the approach to appraising the sustainability of both the Development Plan and the Waste Strategy the full SA/SEA Scoping Report for the Sustainability Appraisal of the West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy is available on request and can be downloaded here.

In accordance with the above, an Initial Sustainability Appraisal Report on the Development Plan and an Environmental Report on the draft Waste Strategy were produced by ERM, independent consultants appointed and supported through Defra’s Local Authority Support Unit DCS scheme.

An interim draft Sustainability Appraisal Report for the draft West of England Joint Waste Core Strategy Preferred Options Consultation Document has been prepared (Full Report and Non-Technical Study) by ERM. (See below).