Issue - meetings

Report No: CAB/JT/18/028

Portfolio Holder: FHDC Cllr Lance Stanbury

Lead Officer: Marie Smith

RECOMMENDED TO FHDC COUNCIL: (26 September 2018)

That:-

1.           The Council, as competent authority, undertake an Appropriate Assessment.

2.           The procedural changes required following the European court ruling, be confirmed.

3.           The HRA Addendum to the HRAs of the Forest Heath SIR and SALP (modification stage) (June 2018) be endorsed.

4.           Having regard to the HRA as a whole, the Council is satisfied that the FHDC Local Plan (SIR and SALP) will not have adverse effects on the integrity of any European site.

(Report No: CAB/JT/18/028)

The Joint Committee received this report which sought approval to the procedural changes to the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Report which supported the Forest Heath Local Plan.  The changes were required following a new European Court legal ruling relating to the consideration of mitigation measures.

The implication of the CJEU Judgment was that competent authorities cannot take account of any integrated or additional avoidance or reduction measures when considered, at the screening stage, whether the plan or project was likely to have an adverse effect on a European Site.  Such measures could, however, be brought into account at the Appropriate Assessment (AA) stage, provided there was sufficient certainty about their effects and deliverability.

The report explained that the HRA work that supported the Forest Heath Single Issue Review (SIR) and the Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP) reflected the approach that had been endorsed by the UK domestic courts and so had taken into account mitigation measures when determining whether potential adverse effect on the relevant European sites could be ‘screened out’ at the initial stage as having no likely significant effects on those sites.  Following the CJEU Judgment, the work was then carefully reviewed in the HRA Addendum (June 2018) which had been produced by the Council’s consultants and was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

RECOMMENDED TO FHDC COUNCIL: (26 September 2018)

That:-

1.           The Council, as competent authority, undertake an Appropriate Assessment.

2.           The procedural changes required following the European court ruling, be confirmed.

3.           The HRA Addendum to the HRAs of the Forest Heath SIR and SALP (modification stage) (June 2018), attached as Appendix 1 to Report No: CAB/JT/18/028, be endorsed.

4.           Having regard to the HRA as a whole, the Council is satisfied that the FHDC Local Plan (SIR and SALP) will not have adverse effects on the integrity of any European site.