Strategic Environmental Assessment: Implementation in Practice

Date for 2012 to be confirmed

Background

The European Directive 2001/42/EC on "the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment", commonly known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment or SEA Directive, arrived in 2004 after a long gestation.

The Directive was implemented in the UK on 21st July 2004. From this date, SEAs are formally required for certain plans and programmes which establish the framework for future development consent of projects listed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive. An indicative list of plans and programmes affected has been published by the UK Government (September 2005).

The implementation of the SEA Directive has major implications for those involved in plan-making, such as local authorities, regional planning bodies, government departments and agencies and utilities, as well as those with an interest in scrutinising plans produced by others. Over the last five years a body of experience of undertaking SEAs has built up and lessons for the future identified from practice in both the UK and the rest of Europe. This, along with emerging case law on SEA, will be drawn on throughout the course.

The Programme

In recognition of the importance of the SEA Directive and the challenges those affected face, Imperial College London and Collingwood Environmental Planning  are presenting a 3-day programme to provide in-depth and practical knowledge of the process of strategic environmental assessment and how to implement the Directive's requirements. This follows previous successful courses run anually from 2004 and twice in 2009.

The aim of this course is to provide a sound grounding in the details of the Directive, how to implement it in practice and how to tackle some of the key challenges that it presents, including:

• integrating the plan making and assessment processes

• stakeholder participation and involvement in the assessment and

• assessing cumulative affects

Who Should Attend?

The course is aimed at responsible authorities, who are implementing the SEA Directive, be that through commissioning consultants to carry out SEA (including Sustainability Appraisals incorporating SEA of spatial plans in England and Wales) or by carrying out the assessments themselves, and consultees in the SEA process.

It will also be relevant to government officials, academics and NGOs with an interest in the SEA process. The course will cover the range of sectors detailed in the Directive (e.g. water, transport, waste, and planning), and is designed to be relevant to people with different levels of experience of SEA. Case study work will be focused to reflect the interest of participants.

Previous courses have been attended by representatives from, for example, local planning and transport authorities, water companies/authorities, government departments and agencies (within the UK, Europe and internationally - e.g. Cyprus Ministries of the Interior and the Environment, Environmental Protection Agency Ireland, Environment Agency United Arab Emirates, National Planning Agency Iceland, Ministry of the Environment Estonia), environmental / sustainability consultants, academics, international organisations (e.g. World Bank and UNEP) and consultees / NGOs.

Teaching Approach

The course will take place over three consecutive days. Each day builds on the preceding days to provide the participants with a solid foundation such that they will feel confident to commission or carry out an SEA.

To complement this, the course uses interactive teaching methods such as role plays, visual aids and discussion groups. In addition, case studies are used to illustrate all aspects of the course, drawing on the most recent practical experience of undertaking SEAs. Key elements of SEA examples will be reviewed over the course of the three days. The maximum number of participants on the course will be 20 with at least two trainers each day and guest speakers as appropriate.

Participants will receive a workbook to follow during the course and supporting reference material in both hard copy and CD format.

The course will run from 9.00am to 5.00pm each day and at the start of each day (days 2 to 3) there will be an opportunity to review the previous day's material.

Each day will broadly take the following format:

• Introduction/review of the previous day (days 2 to 3)
• Lecture and plenary discussion
• Group work and structured activities
• Round up including tasks for the following day