Strategic Environmental Assessment in Transport and Land Use Planning

Hardback  272 pp  ISBN 9781853838118      £90.00

Softcover  272 pp  ISBN 9781853838125      £30.00

Assessing the full scale of environmental impacts is essential for effective transport and land use planning, not only at the project level but also for policies, plans and programmes. Nonetheless, though environmental assessment is widespread at these strategic tiers, it is far from methodical.

This book presents the first systematic, comparative analysis of environmental assessment practice in strategic decision making at all levels, in regions of England, Germany and The Netherlands.

Through detailed analysis of empirical research findings and existing documentation, the author demonstrates the advantages of adopting a systematic application of a comprehensive, tiered form of SEA derived from the three major types € policy-SEA, plan-SEA and programme-SEA. He offers concrete advice for improving current practice and for successfully conducting SEA in the future.

Reaching far beyond the scope of existing studies on SEA, this book provides invaluable guidance for planners and decision-makers in the transport and land use sectors, and an essential model for students, researchers and practitioners of SEA.

CONTENTS

Dedication
List of tables, figures and boxes
Preface
Acnowledgements
Acronyms and abbreviations

Part 1 - Background

Introduction to Part 1

Introduction
SEA background
Potential benefits of SEA application
SEA effectiveness
SEA research
Aim, research questions and objectives
Structure of the book

2 How to systematically conduct strategic environmental assessment research
Choice of sample regions
Problems in transnational comparative research on SEA
Establishing the context for SEA application
Framework for comparing SEA practice
Data collection

Part 2 - Planning Context

Introduction to Part 2

3 Organization of planning
Political and administrative context
Planning systems
Planning instruments
Legislation and guidance
Cross-regional characteristics

4 Policies, plans and programmes
Selection of PPPs
PPP relevance
PPP accountability
PPP inter-modality
PPP procedure
Cross-regional characteristics

Part 3 - Strategic Environmental Assessment: Empirical Research Results

Introduction to Part 3

5 SEA practice
Extent of SEA application
Types of SEA
Context variables and SEA presentation aspects
Procedural aspects of SEA application
Impact coverage
Other methodological aspects
SEA preparation times
Summary

6 Opinions and attitudes of authorities
Overall picture
Opinions on current SEA
Attitudes of authorities towards formalized SEA
Summary

7 The Consideration of Sustainability Aspects
Overall picture
Sustainability objectives
Sustainability targets
Measures for sustainability
Overall evaluation of sustainability objectives, targets and measures
Summary

8 Potential benefits from SEA application
Overall picture
Wider consideration of impacts and alternatives
Proactive assessment: SEA as a supporting tool for PPP formulation for sustainable development
Strengthening project EIA: Increasing the efficiency of tiered decision making
Systematic and effective consideration of the environment at higher tiers of decision making
Consultation and participation on SEA-related issues
Overall evaluation of the potential SEA benefits
Requirements of the EC SEA Directive
Summary

Part 4 - Summary and Conclusions

Introduction to Part 4

9 Overview and synthesis
Overall results
Evaluation of individual SEAs
Correlation analysis of SEA aspects
Interpretation of the results

10 Conclusions
Extent of SEA application and SEA classification
Authorities' opinions on current SEA and their attitudes towards formalized SEA
Consideration of sustainability objectives, targets and measures and the role of SEA
Extent to which assessments result in the five potential SEA benefits
Suggestions for improving current practice

Appendix 1 Main source documentation used in the analysis
Appendix 2 Statutes and statutory instruments
Appendix 3 List of all the SEAs in the three regions
Appendix 4 Conformity of case study SEAs with the requirements of the EC SEA Directive proposal
Appendix 5 Comparison of targets of the Fifth Environmental Action Programme with national sustainable development strategies

Notes
References
Index

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