Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is the process of assessing the likely impact on the environment of plans, programmes and strategies made by public authorities.
The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 requires the public authorities to which it apples (which includes Angus Council) to undertake SEA of virtually all its plans, programmes and strategies (there are limited exemptions for purely financial and civil emergency plans). That Act came into force on 20 February 2006 and replaced the more limited SEA regime deriving from European legislation and implemented in Scotland by the former Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
To determine whether or not a plan, programme or strategy requires full SEA scoping and reporting, an exercise of "pre-screening" and "screening" those plans, programmes and strategies is required first. In summary, this means the exercise of weeding out those plans, programmes and strategies that do not require full SEA because they are either exempt (financial or civil emergency plans as referred to above) or excluded on assessment as being likely to have no or minimal effects (called "pre-screening") or as being unlikely to have significant environmental effects (called "screening").
If the Council pre-screens out a particular plan, programme or strategy, it must notify the "SEA Gateway" (the Scottish Government office which acts as a central point of contact for SEA between public authorities on the one hand and SEPA, SNH and Historic Scotland on the other). The Scottish Government SEA website contains a register of such notifications (the address is given below).
If the Council, however, concludes that it can screen out the plan, programme or strategy, it must first consult via the SEA Gateway and, if all the bodies concerned agree, it can then make a "screening determination" which it must then publish, including via this website.
Follow the link below to access screening determinations made by Angus Council. Alternatively, screening determinations may be inspected Monday - Friday during office hours at Angus Council Corporate Services Department, Law and Administration Division, Angus House, Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar.
Angus Council Screening Determinations
Further Useful Link(s)
The Scottish Government's SEA website, including the SEA Pre-Screening Notifications register, is available on the Scottish Government website.