Cheshire West & Chester Council is preparing a core strategy as part of the Local Development Framework (LDF) for the Borough.  The council has produced an ‘issues & options’ paper for consultation to seek people’s views at an early stage.  As part of this process an interim sustainability appraisal (SA) has been carried out and this report outlines the findings of the appraisal. It is intended that this appraisal will assist people in making comments on the issues and options paper.

The main finding of the appraisal was that it was difficult to assess the sustainability of the spatial options as they were very broad based and did not have the level of detail required to enable a comprehensive assessment. It was recognised that to some extent this was to be expected at this stage especially as key pieces of evidence are not yet available.  Given the limitations the appraisal cautiously concluded that the option that favoured regeneration based development (Ellesmere Port focus) appeared the most sustainable as it has the potential to reduce poverty, improve townscape, re-use previously developed land and site development in areas of reduced flood risk.

Guidance in relation to sustainability appraisal and the preparation of Local Development Frameworks confirms that the options put forward in the plan making process should be reasonable, realistic and relevant. The options should also be sufficiently distinct in order to highlight the different sustainability implications of each, so that meaningful comparisons can be made.  At the next stage of the appraisal process the options will have to be sufficiently distinct and detailed to enable a full and comprehensive assessment.

If you have any comments on this interim sustainability appraisal report they should be sent by 13th January 2010 electronically to spatialplanning@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk or to the address below:

This report can be viewed on the Cheshire West and Chester website http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/planning/spatial_planning/ldf/sea_and_sa.aspx and at council offices and libraries.