The following evidence supports the BCP Local Plan. It looks at how the Local Plan can deliver environmental, economic and social objectives and enable it to be found sound at examination.

Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Scoping Report

Under section 19(5) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, the local plan must be subject to a sustainability appraisal (SA) throughout its production, ensuring that it is fully consistent with and helps to implement the principles of sustainable development.

The SA scoping report represents the first stage in the SA/strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process. The SEA Directive [Article 5/3] requires that local authorities consult with statutory environmental bodies namely Historic England, Environment Agency and Natural England on the scope and level of detail of information to be included in the environmental report. The purpose of the Scoping Report is to identify:

• the relevant plans, policies, programmes, and initiatives contained in relevant strategic documents that will inform the sustainability appraisal process and the local plan
• the relevant baseline information
• key sustainability issues
• an appraisal framework, consisting of sustainability objectives and indicators, against which the local plan can be considered.

The Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (along with appendix 1, appendix 2, appendix 3, appendix 4 and appendix 5) was consulted on for 5 weeks from 29 January 2021 to 5 March 2021.