Integrating River Basin Management Plans with the

Planning System

Alaine Clarke MIPI

Physical Planner

EPA March 2015

Objective

Appreciate existing linkages between catchment management and the planning system

Recognise that the planning system is a key tool to implementation of RBMPs

Understand what is needed to deliver a water-friendly planning system

Get feedback!

Structure of presentation

Policy Context

Legislative context as it relates to planning & RBMPs

What guidance is out there?

Existing RBMPs + interaction with planning system

Developing appropriate & measurable policies

Next cycle of RBMPs

Why do we need sync planning &catchment management?

No water. No life. No blue. No green.

Sylvia Earle

Risk of not doing?

Impact on water resources & aquatic health;

Constraints on new development due to lack of water supply and waste water treatment capacity;

Missed opportunities for cost-saving;

Increased flood risk;

Poorer quality environments in which we live;

Impact on our health and well-being.

A water-friendly planning system

What is a water-friendly planning system?

Do we have one?

How can we deliver one?

Water is seen as a constraint or a challenge to development

The planning system has a key role to play in delivering the requirements of the WFD through its influence on location, layout and design of new development.

Planning authorities are ideally placed to address pressures on the water environment associated with land-use.

How does the Planning System Work?

3-pronged approach:

Forward Planning

Development Management

Enforcement

Policy Framework

National Spatial Strategy

Regional Planning Guidelines

City/County Development Plans

Local Area Plans

Local Economic and Community Plan

National Planning Framework

Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies

Linking Water Policy to Development

Spatial Scale

Planning Advice for Integrated Water Management, University of Cambridge

Legislative Context: General

Public authorities must (S.I. 722 of 2003):

exercise its functions ……..which achieves or promotes compliance with the requirements of the Directive

take such actions …….secure compliance with the Directive, RBMP and POMs

i.e. responsibility of planning authorities to ensure that future development does not negatively impact on the achievement of WFD objectives and to implement measures where necessary.

Forward Planning (1)

Legislative Context…

Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 includes an important provision in support of the WFD:

a mandatory objective (of development plans ) requires local authorities to integrate water management with planning policies and objectives in preparing their development plans….

Legislative Context

A development plan shall include an objective for:

“the promotion of compliance with environmental standards and objectives

established—

for bodies of surface water, by the European Communities (Surface

Waters) Regulations 2009;

for groundwater, by the European Communities (Groundwater)

Regulations 2010;

which standards and objectives are included in river basin management

plans (within the meaning of Regulation 13 of the European Communities

(Water Policy) Regulations 2003

Legislative Context

Complex to understand!

The effect of this explicit new linking provision is that the policies and objectives of all development plans must be specifically aligned with the applicable RBMP.

As a result, development plans are now in effect required to be key agents for achieving WFD objectives.

How do we align RBMPs and DPs?

First need to understand the RBMP objectives

The RBMPs establish the following core environmental objectives to be achieved generally by 2015 and beyond: prevent deterioration in status;

restore good status;

reduce chemical pollution;

achieve water related protected areas objectives.

Future land-use plans should ensure that they contribute to achieving these environmental objectives and other relevant objectives in RBMPs.

Water Services Strategic Plan

Has to be consistent with RBMPs, NSS & Regional Planning Guidelines

Development plans have to have regard to WSSP and provision of infrastructure

Linking provision of infrastructure to WSSP

getting the right type and quality of development, in the right place and at the right time

How do we align RBMPs and DPs?

Use full range of DP Objectives

Supplementary objectives (Planning Act) should be assessed against RBMP objectives e.g. Regulating, restricting and controlling:

the development of coastal areas and development in the vicinity of inland waterways;

development in order to reduce the risk of serious danger to human health or the environment;

the exploitation of natural resources;

development on the foreshore, or any part of the foreshore;

Protecting and preserving the quality of the environment, including the prevention, limitation, elimination, abatement or reduction of environmental pollution and the protection of waters, groundwater, the seashore and the atmosphere.

What Guidance is out there?

Nationally, not a lot!

Waiting on DECLG guidance which is due to be published as an Appendix to the revised DP Guidelines: How to improve integration of RBMPs and DP’s.

Existing RBMPs & Planning

Has been a ‘disconnect’ between the implementation of RBMPs and DPs. The objectives in the RBMPs have not always translated coherently into DPs.

Reference to integration through the SEA process in RBMPs.

‘Development Plan Guidance on the Water Environment’ – SEPA, February 2015 – very useful re SEA process

Source: Register of Plans and ProgrammesBackground Document to the River BasinManagement Plans DevelopmentManagement, December 2008

SEA, HDA + Evidence-based Planning

RBMP process can provide a robust evidence base to help the key planning stages of spatial planning, including informing alternative scenarios.

Evidence base for preparing DPs can also be facilitated through SEA & (Habitats Directive Assessment) HDA.

SEA should consider the effects of policies on the water environment.

Evidence-based Planning & DP

Baseline information…e.g. wfdireland.ie; gis.epa.ie/envision; edenireland.ie local water body status, risk scores, objectives and measures Water management unit action plans

Groundwater vulnerability, GW Protection Areas etc (GSI

https://www.gsi.ie/Mapping.htm)

Annual environmental reports (AERs)?

(Emerging) Water Safety Plans

Wetlands inventory..?

Consultation with key stakeholders: critical to a well-informed plan

Appropriate DP Policies, e.g

Conserve, enhance and give access to watercourses and riverside habitats;

Encourage development proposals to improve the water environment, e.g. restoring ‘natural’ watercourses through the removal of culverts;

Protect sensitive locations, e.g. wetland habitat and drinking water supplies;

Seek upgrades to local water infrastructure (water supply, wastewater sewerage and treatment, flood risk mgt, sustainable drainage and green/blue infrastructure)

Support an integrated and collaborative approach to local catchment management

Restrict exempted development in sensitive locations?

Statement to accompany DPs

The written statement of the development plan is required to

include a separate statement which shows that the

development objectives are consistent with the conservation

and protection of the environment. S 10(1D)

Statement should address the environmental objectives as set

out in the RBMPs. The SEA process should facilitate the

drafting of such a statement.

Development Management(2)

Encourage the incorporation of sustainable drainage systems into new developments;

Where required, applications to be accompanied by a water management statement which identifies water cycle issues and the means of addressing these;

Relies on Development Plan policy;

Use of environmental assessments for schemes where local evidence shows there might be significant impacts on water bodies.

Development Management (cont)

Environmental Assessments, e.g.

Habitats Directive Assessments

Environmental Impact Assessment

WFD Assessment (NIEA 2012)

Enforcement

Resource intensive

Costly

Time intensive

Measurable compliance procedures would be beneficial, & linked to SEA objectives to help secure implementation

Next cycle of RBMPs

Engage with planning authorities in contributing to the next cycle

Questions arising:

what are the RBMP outputs and how can they be used to inform land-use and spatial planning?

Will the POMs be sufficiently detailed to be of value to the planning system?

What are the potential risks of various potential forms and patterns of development to achieving water objectives?

Support Tools should help in the day-day management of development control and in forward planning through evidence based planning.

Summary

Room for improvement across all levels and sectors of planning;

WFD and Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) needs to be imbedded at a national and regional scale – statutory context;

Through the new ‘National Planning Framework’ & ‘Regional Spatial & Economic Strategies’;

These will influence County Development Plans and Local Area Plans and development management;

Need robust objectives and measurable compliance measures;

Scientific evidence needed to support policy!

TAKE HOME MESSAGE!

Increase awareness of Catchment Managers of the planning system and how it can influence catchment management

Increase awareness of the Planner of catchment management and its integration with the planning system

Land-use planning and RBM planning needs to develop and deliver hand in hand

Image curtsey of Emma Quinlan, EPA