Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessments

Sustainability Appraisals (SA) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) are carried out for Development Plan Documents as a requirement of European and UK legislation and cover social, environmental and economic topics. Babergh District Council in partnership with other Suffolk authorities has agreed a methodology (based on government guidance) and this was approved by statutory consultees such as Natural England, which has been set out in a report called a ‘Scoping Report’. The overall aim is to achieve development which is more sustainable.

Sustainable development is often referred to as ‘development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.

• SA/SEA Scoping Report (PDF, 913kb)
• SA/SEA Trend Information (PDF, 520kb)
• SA/SEA Scoped Document Part 1 (PDF, 307kb)
• SA/SEA Scoped Document Part 2 (PDF, 317kb)
• SA/SEA Scoped Document Part 3 (PDF, 306kb)
• SA/SEA Scoped Document Part 4 (PDF, 247kb) 

All comments received on the SA/SEA for the Issues and Options, Core Strategy can be viewed via the The Babergh online planning pages. The SA/ SEA will be completed alongside the Core Strategy, with a Draft SA/ SEA that will be prepared for the Draft Core Strategy and a Final SA/ SEA for the Final Core Strategy. The public will be consulted on the draft and final SA/ SEA.  More information regarding the timescales for consultation will be published in due course.