6 Action Plans
6.1 Introduction to Action Planning
Action Planning is the process whereby environmental noise, as described in the Regulations, will be managed.
6.2 Extent of Action Plans
The agglomeration Action Plans must cover the area of the agglomeration. Outside agglomerations Action Plans must be developed for places 'near' the designated major sources. The Scottish Executive intends to define the term "places near" in terms of levels of exposure that need to be reported to the Commission: i.e. out to the L den 55dB and L night 50dB contour bands in a noise map (see Annex VI of the END). The distance noise propagates from linear sources such as major roads and railways depends on the surrounding features. To take account of this a buffer area of 2km has been created around the agglomerations and main transport sources in the mapping process.. However, in the case of relevant airports the distance to the L den 55 dB and L night 50 dB contours may be greater and the mapped area extended to cover this as required..
6.3 Competent Authority for Developing Action Plans
The END requires the designation of a competent authority to be responsible for the development of Action Plans. The competent authority is responsible for ensuring that an Action Plan is developed but it may well be the case that the necessary powers to implement the actions that might be contained in the plan rest with other bodies. Where this is the case the Scottish Executive intends that the powers for taking action to manage the noise climate will remain with the bodies that already hold them. These powers to take action lie with a wide number of organisations. It is not the Scottish Executive's intention to alter such arrangements.
The Scottish Executive expects that any bodies/authorities named in the finalised Action Plans, including those with the power to take action, should take the necessary steps to treat the Action Plans as policy. They should, therefore, take the plans into account as a 'relevant' or 'material' consideration when making a policy decision
6.4 How, Why, and When to Prepare an Action Plan
The Action Plan should contain the following four key stages:
1. Analysis of the strategic noise maps. This should include population exposure information that requires to be sent to the commission in December 2007. This will assist in identification of candidate areas for noise management areas.
2. Further investigation and analysis of the candidate areas that could include noise measurements but will involve checks on the ground to ensure that the assumptions underlying the strategic maps are reflected at the local level. (For example the strategic maps may show high exposure levels but there may have been physical changes on the ground since the data was collected). More simply there may also be some inaccuracies in the maps as they are strategic maps after all.
3. An evaluation of existing UK, Scottish and Local policies, plans and programmes that may have an impact on the strategic environmental noise climate for the areas identified as potential noise management areas. ( e.g. transport plans and programmes, local plans, air quality management plans)
4. An evaluation of potential mitigation measures to manage noise, with options subject to a cost benefit analysis. This could include identifying gaps in existing policies and plans with recommendations to fill those gaps as appropriate.
6.5 Strategic Environmental Assessment
A Strategic Environmental Assessment ( SEA) is a systematic process for identifying, predicting and where possible avoiding significant adverse environmental impacts of implementing public strategies, plans and programmes. In Scotland, the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 ensures that all public strategies, plans and programmes that are likely to result in significant environmental effects, adverse or positive, are assessed.
Individual draft END Action Plans are likely to fall within the scope of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 given their potential for significant environmental effects and would therefore require an SEA For END Action Planning, it is considered advisable that the SEA should not be undertaken within a separate work-stream from the plan-making one, but viewed as a creative decision aiding tool that may be used in the design cycle of END Action Plans..
The process of such assessment involves:
- creating a summary and scoping out the likely effects on the environment of implementing a proposed strategy, plan or programme.
- outlining those effects in a Environmental Report
- undertaking a formal public consultation exercise on the strategy, plan or programme along with the Environmental Report
- taking into account the comments and views expressed during the consultation and the contents of the report in the final decision making process.
- informing stakeholders of the decisions taken through a post-adoption statement.
Strategic Environmental Assessment applies to public strategies, plans and programmes that are likely to have significant environmental effects if implemented and allows the identification, comparison, and adoption of reasonable alternatives (to avoid potential significant adverse environmental impacts or to enhance beneficial ones).
Guidance on how to undertake an SEA is outlined in the SEA Tool Kit available on the Scottish Executives publications website, and which may be accessed via the following link.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/13104943/0