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H PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTThe Environment Agency has a wealth of information available on their website www.environment-agency.gov.uk including pollution inventory, bathing waters, river quality, indicative floodplain maps, source protection zones, landfill sites and discharges to sea. These are available as maps or data and can be zoomed in onto local areas. 1 Air QualityThe Air Quality (England) Regulations have been implemented as part of a Government Strategy to reduce air pollution, in an attempt to protect people’s health and the environment without imposing unacceptable economic or social costs. Objectives have been set for seven main air pollutants; benzene, 1.3 –butadiene, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particles – PM10, and sulphur dioxide, which are to be achieved by a specified date. Ozone is not included because local air quality management measures will not control levels. Suffolk Air Quality Management and Steering Groups have been set up to ensure a co-ordinated approach to air quality management across the county. The district and borough councils have recently completed a Three-Stage Review and Assessment of air quality within Suffolk, as part of a national review process. Reports are available for inspection from the local district and borough council’s Environmental Health/Services Departments. Action Plans will be drawn up for any areas where air pollution levels have been found to exceed the government standards. The main sources of pollution are road traffic and industry. Air pollution levels in Suffolk are highest next to the trunk routes which carry relatively high volumes of fast flowing traffic and include a significant proportion of heavy goods vehicles. To date, Air Quality Management Areas have been declared by Babergh District Council adjacent to the A12 South of Ipswich and St Edmundsbury Borough Council adjacent to the A14. These Areas include small pockets of properties which are situated very close to the routes. Action Plans will be prepared for the identified areas. Air quality within Suffolk is typical of a ‘rural county’, with roadside pollution levels in the larger urban areas such as Ipswich and Lowestoft being representative of towns of a similar size throughout the country. The East Anglian region does suffer from higher levels of particulates and also ozone. The largest mean concentrations of ozone occur in the rural areas in eastern and southern England on sunny warm summer days due to air currents bringing ozone precursors from source regions in central and northern Europe. Thus levels of ozone measured at Sibton near Halesworth are often among the highest in the country. Background levels of particulates are higher in the eastern and southern part of the country, due to long range transport from Europe. Source: Penny Moys, Environment and Transport. SCC 2 Land UseHousingBetween 1981 and 1999 the population of Suffolk increased by around 68,000. The excess of births over deaths accounts for only 6,800 people. The rest is due to more people moving into the county than are moving out. The county’s population grows by approximately 0.6% per year on average, and the total population in 1999 was around 666,600. The Government target set in 1996 is for 60% of new homes to be built on brownfield (previously developed land) sites by 2010. This is an overall target for the entire nation, and does not apply to every region or county individually. The target for the Eastern Region is 50% of additional dwellings to be provided on previously developed land or by conversion of existing buildings. (Regional Planning Guidance 6, Policy 5). Two main indicators have been developed for progress analysis in this area, and will be used as a baseline to aid future monitoring of Suffolk’s success in improving this provision. These are:
2.1 (A) Number of dwelling built of brownfield/ greenfield sites
N.B: Babergh District Council were unable to make a return (98/99) so these figures are the sum of the remaining 6 districts. Source: ‘Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development’ – 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001, p8-9 Although the average percentage of contributions from brownfield sites for the county was 46%, this hides a wide variation between the individual districts. Ipswich had 83% of its 335 new dwellings built on brownfield sites. Waveney District recorded the lowest percentage with only 22% of completions being on brownfield sites. 2.2 (B) Brownfield/Greenfield commitments, mid 2000
Source: ‘Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development’ – 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001 2.3 Number and percentage of existing commitments on brownfield sites - mid 2000
N.B: Babergh District Council was unable to make a return (98/99) so these figures are the sum of the remaining 6 districts. Source: ‘Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development’ – 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001 Again, the county average of the percentage of commitments on brownfield sites of 33% seems to hide a wide variation between the districts; Ipswich is over 50% higher than the next closest district Suffolk Coastal. In 1999/2000, in some towns such as Haverhill and Lowestoft, large areas of greenfield land have been allocated in local plans. This has had the effect of depressing the percentage of commitments on brownfield sites. Until these outstanding allocations have worked their way through the system, it is unlikely that any Government targets for brownfield development will be achieved in Suffolk. Source: ‘Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development’ – 2nd Monitoring Report March 2000. Page 9 At mid-2000 there were an estimated 295,500 dwellings in the county. The County Structure Plan 2001 was developed to ensure that there are enough new dwellings in the county to meet housing requirements. The current Structure Plan makes provision for 2,650 additional dwellings per year within Suffolk for the period 1996-2016. Currently the rate to meet Structure Plan requirements is 2,720 new dwellings per annum.The Structure Plan is available on the internet at http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/sspr/deposit/. There are considerable differences in rates of completion between district/borough council areas. Forest Heath and Ipswich have been behind the anticipated rate of development. Babergh and Waveney have experienced building rates in line with Structure Plan provisions, whilst Mid Suffolk, St Edmundsbury and Suffolk Coastal completions have been ahead of the expected rate. Business Development2.4 Land available for Business/ Industrial Development (by District)
N.B: (1) Figures have not been updated – no information available Source: ‘Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development’ – 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001, p20. The latest information shows there is a substantial amount of land available. An apparent large decrease over the past year in Ipswich is the result of 34ha of land at Ransomes Europark being transferred to their “vacant land within existing employment areas” category. Given recent take-up rates there is clearly no shortage of industrial land available for development in Suffolk. Tourism
Due to the nature of the area, tourism is of great economic importance to Suffolk. People are attracted to its rural environment and natural resources. This appealing aspect of the county needs to be protected, in order to preserve levels of tourism. Tourism in Suffolk, 1998
Staying visitors
Impact of tourism expenditure
Source: Tourism Volume and Value, East of England Tourist Board/Suffolk County Council 1998 Rural AreasOf the 791.66 ha of agricultural land allocated for some form of development in mid 1996, 54% or 428.7 ha of this land remained without permission in mid 2000:
The most notable take-up of land in 1999 - 2000, was that for housing in Mid Suffolk. The 63.3 ha area represents 72% of the total uptake in the county and 87% of the Suffolk’s housing uptake. This high number is due to the gradual uptake of the Stowmarket Strategic Development Area’s (SDA) for housing. The SDA comprises over 90 ha of agricultural land to the north east of Stowmarket Town Centre allocated for a variety of employment and housing development in the local plan. The only significant uptake of employment land in 1999-2000, was in Babergh, where the permissions granted in Hadleigh and Sudbury mean that the districts entire employment allocation was approved for development. There were 80 applications refused for development on agricultural areas within Suffolk, in order to prevent loss of agricultural land. Across the county as a whole, 50% of refusals triggering the indicator were residential applications, and a further 30% were for commercial activity. The district with the highest percentage of refusals was Suffolk Coastal with 40%. All refusals prevented development of 88.6 ha of agricultural land (of which 68.0 ha was for sand and gravel extraction at Bucklesham in Suffolk Coastal). Source: “Suffolk’s Environment... towards sustainable development”, 3rd monitoring report, May 2001, p29-30 Millennium Landscape Recording ProjectThe project has been established to improve our knowledge and understanding of landscape change within the county. The project involves Suffolk Planning Authorities, the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Project and the Suffolk East and West Federations of the Women’s Institute. Local WI’s were challenged to survey one-kilometre squares, providing a detailed record of landscape character and appearance. Surveys were undertaken in January and July 1999 in order to provide information about the landscape at two seasonal extremes. 152 squares were examined countywide, looking at three baseline indicators.
For land surveys such as this, the county is divided into 7 areas, based on geological character:
As this is the first year this survey has taken place the results are to be used as a baseline for future comparisons. It is planned to repeat the survey every five years in order to monitor both the changes in use and the influence of ecological variations on the Suffolk landscape. Source: Countryside Section, E&T, SCC. The Built EnvironmentThe population growth over the last twenty years has put pressure on councils to increase the availability of housing and community facilities, especially within the main towns in the county. A balance has to be achieved between providing this development, and protecting the considerable amount of history and heritage that is contained within Suffolk. This is an important element in the Structure and Local Plans operated by the Local Authorities. Suffolk’s rich built heritage is reflected in the large number of Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings that exist within the County.
The designation of Conservation Areas is the responsibility of local authorities, whilst the final decision to ‘list’ a building lies with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is a long held objective of planning policy to control development that would have an adverse impact on either listed buildings or conservation areas. There are 162 Conservation Areas in Suffolk (Feb 2002). These cover both towns and villages 2.7 Number of Conservation Areas by District
Source: Conservation Officer, Suffolk County Council, 2002 3 TrafficDuring 2000 the overall rate of growth of traffic in the county was just 0.51% compared with 1999’s figure of 2.37%. This reduction can be mostly attributed to the fuel crisis during September 2000. The reduction is in line with the national growth figure of 0.4%. Trunk roads in Suffolk continue to show the highest rate of growth at 0.85%. The flow of heavy goods vehicles at sites where they are recorded has increased by 0.9%. Of these sites those on the county lorry route network have shown an increase of 1.25%. This growth occurred despite Development Plan objectives to reduce the length and number of motorised journeys and encourage sustainable means of travel, such as walking, cycling and public transport. 3.1 Comparison of Traffic Growth between Suffolk and the UK
(Index 1996 = 100). Source: ‘Local Transport Plan: Annual Progress Report 2001’ The Suffolk Local Transport Plan (LTP) was published in July 2000 setting out a framework for transport provision over the next 5 years in association with the County Structure Plan 2001. The Annual Progress Report records the progress made in relation to the objectives and targets set out in the LTP. It also provides an update on transport issues and the influences of regional and national policies. It is available on the internet at http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/ltp2001-2006/apr2001. Some of the headline performance indicators from the Local Transport Plan (LTP) for 2000/01 include: Accessibility
Economy
Environment and Health
Safety
Integration
Supplementary BidsAs the LTP was published in July 2000, a number of supplementary bids, for measures and additional expenditure have since been added which include Martlesham Park and Ride and relief roads for South Lowestoft and B1115 Stowmarket. Source: Local Transport Plan, Suffolk County Council 4 Suffolk Local Biodiversity Action PlanThe Plan consists of targets and policies on the preservation and conservation of natural habitats and the variety of wildlife within Suffolk. The importance of such a plan is the maintenance of the delicate balance between the components of the ecological system. Nothing within the environment lives in isolation, and the impact of humans can change the physical environment more dramatically than any other creature. The Local Plan translates national targets into a local context. It also allows local communities and interest groups to identify what they believe to be important, aiding the preservation of local distinctiveness. The individual habitat and species plans set targets for implementing and monitoring those focus areas that specifically relate to the Suffolk environment. They clearly identify objectives and targets as well as detailing actions and organisations, sectors and individuals responsible for following through each plan. The consultation process was targeted towards organisations and businesses, both public and private, whose activities most affect wildlife resources within Suffolk. For the specific habitat and species plans, all the nationally lead bodies and contact points were consulted on the individual plans relevant to them. Available on the Suffolk County Council website at http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/countryside/action_plan/index.html 5 Waste ManagementIn Suffolk over the last four years, the quantity of household rubbish has increased by over 65,000 tonnes. Currently each household produces over one tonne per year this is the equivalent of around 130 black bin bags. Most household waste goes into landfill sites and is buried. These sites are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and therefore the cost of disposal is increasing. 5.1 Household waste produced (in tonnes per district)
Source: Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development. 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001, p146. This increase in household waste has lead to a media led campaign to reduce the amount of household waste the Anglia region produces. Currently around 16% of household waste within Suffolk is recycled. The countrywide best value performance targets are for levels of recycling and composting 28% (2003/4 and 38% 2005/6). The ‘Slim your Bin’ campaign has three focus areas:
5.2 Percentage of household waste recycled (by district)
Source: Suffolk’s Environment… towards sustainable development. 3rd Monitoring Report May 2001. N.B In the figures above household waste which is collected and composted is included as being recycled. Waste which is composted at home is not collected and therefore not included in household waste production or recycling figures. There has been an absolute and percentage increase in household waste recycled in Suffolk over the past year. It should be noted that there is a lack of certainty surrounding the figures for Waveney District. During 1999 the District changed the way in which much of its waste was managed. It is now subject to mechanical separation of the biodegradable element with the intent of producing a low grade soil improver. However, it has not yet been established whether the output of this process is of sufficent quality to be considered a soil improver (and so the process would be considered to be recycling) or it remains a waste. The impact of this process has therefore been excluded from the 1999/2000 figures. If this process were considered to be recycling then the percentage recycling rate for Waveney District would increase to over 25% and have the potential to reach significantly higher rates than this in future years. Waste Strategy 2000, the national waste strategy for England and Wales was published in May 2000. This set the following national targets with regard to the recycling or composting of household waste: 25% by 2005, 30% by 2010, and 33% by 2015; and the recovery of value from municipal waste: 40% by 2005, 45% by 2010, and 67% by 2015. It also set a target to reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste sent to landfill by 2005 to be 85% of that landfilled in 1998. CONTACTS - PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
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