Habitat Regulations Assessment of the Local Plan policies
Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA) are a requirement of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (as amended 2011). The reports assess the impacts of the Local Plan policies on sites designated under the European Directive (92/43/EEC The Habitats Directive). For the development of the Local Plan, the assessment is carried out in an iterative process as the HRA is, in turn used to inform the development of planning policies.
The sites and species designated under The Habitats Directive are also known as the 'Natura 2000' sites and include:
- Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
- Special Protection Areas (SPA)
- Ramsar sites (which support internationally important wetland habitats listed under Ramsar Convention) are also included in the sites protected through these regulations.
Local Plan Part 2: Screening Report
The following link will take you to the HRA Screening Report which accompany the stages of the emerging Local Plan Part 2:
Local Plan Part 1 - Core Strategy: Screening Assessment
A screening assessment on the Core Strategy - Preferred Option was carried out under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended). You can download a copy of the Screening Assessment at the bottom of this page, or by following this link:-
- Screening Local Plan Part 1 (pdf, 940kb)
This document identifies the designated sites and their interest features which may be affected by the Winchester Core Strategy Preferred Option, and the type of impact that would need to be addressed through an Appropriate Assessment. It also identifies other plans and projects which could, in combination with the Core Strategy Preferred Option have a significant effect on these designated sites.
Local Plan Part 1 - Core Strategy: Habitat Regulations Assessment (Appropriate Assessment)
The Screening Assessment was used to inform the Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) of the Pre-Submission and the Submission stages of the Joint Core Strategy 2012 which can be downloaded below.
- Submission Local Plan Part 1: Habitat Regulations Screening Assessment of Submission (pdf, 2.1mb)
- Pre-Submission Local Plan Part 1: Habitat Regulations Assessment Pre-Sub (pdf, 1.6mb)
The HRA was one of the supporting documents for the Joint Core Strategy Examination.