National Planning Framework
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Easy-read guide
Background
All public bodies in Scotland, including the Scottish Government, have to assess and report on the environmental effects of most of their plans, programmes and strategies. This process is known as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and is required by the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.
What is Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)?
SEA is not a test of how 'environmentally friendly' a plan is applied after its content has already been decided. Environmental impacts should be identified early in the process as the plan is written. From the outset of the policy making process, the SEA of the NPF has raised the profile of environmental issues and has ensured that decisions on its content are being made in an informed and transparent way.
SEA was required to assess the environmental impacts of the proposed NPF and also to compare this with the effects of any 'reasonable' alternatives. This helps policy makers to explore a wide range of opportunities and ideas before deciding on the best solution and, if possible, including it in the NPF. Other policy considerations mean that it is not always possible to choose the ideal option from an environmental perspective.
What has the SEA process shown?
The SEA has shown that the NPF positively addresses many environmental challenges. The NPF SEA recognised that different environmental and policy objectives cannot always be easily reconciled. For example, it is difficult to maximise Scotland's renewable energy output without creating significant effects for landscapes and biodiversity, and tensions can arise between the objective of sustainable economic growth, and growing environmental challenges including climate change. The SEA has also shown that, to deliver the proposed suite of National Developments in an environmentally sustainable way, co-ordinated planning and mitigation measures will be required at a strategic level.
The SEA reports can be accessed in the Information Archive .
For more information…
Dr. Fiona Simpson, SEA Specialist within the Scottish Government's Directorate for the Built Environment ( Fiona.Simpson@scotland.gov.uk or 0131 244 7547), can provide more detailed information on the SEA process and its findings.