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ANNEX G Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance ( STAG)
STAG is the Scottish Executive's appraisal methodology for all transport projects. It is based on the belief that good planning and appraisal result in good outcomes. STAG sets out a number of key characteristics for good planning and appraisal:
- objective-led
- open-minded
- pragmatic
- auditable
- inclusive
STAG is also designed to ensure that a wide range of important public policy considerations are taken into account during the appraisal process. The Government's 5 criteria for transport appraisal form the framework for a STAG appraisal and these are:
- environment (similar in scope to SEA)
- safety (accident prevention and security)
- economy (economic efficiency and impact on the wider economy)
- integration (with existing transport, with land-use and with other policies)
- accessibility and social inclusion (promotion of public transport, provision of access to local services for society as a whole and for distinctive groups within it)
The role of STAG in the production of a regional transport strategy ( RTS) is to ensure that the objectives for the RTS are established up front, and a number of strategy options generated and their relative impacts appraised against those objectives and the above criteria. This allows the strategy option which is best able to deliver against the objectives set by the RTP to be adopted.
Guidance on developing and assessing strategies or packages of measures is provided in STAG (chapter 4, section 3). STAG will be familiar to most transport practitioners and should be used, alongside this guidance, in the production of an RTS.
The STAG process also aligns with that of SEA (see Annex H). STAG and SEA both require the impacts of alternative strategies to be considered and justification for the preferred option explained. STAG requires alternative strategies to be appraised against all 5 national criteria; whereas SEA requires alternative strategies to be tested against a range of environmental factors only - all of which are also encompassed by the environmental criterion within STAG.
The two-part process which is fundamental to STAG is equally applicable to the development of an RTS. However, Appraisal Summary Tables ( ASTs) should be completed for the strategy as a whole, rather than individual elements within it. Some further appraisal of individual interventions may be necessary in order to better evaluate the overall options and ensure that the significant impacts of those components which comprise the strategy are taken into account. It has to be recognised that this will need to be managed carefully given the time and resource constraints.
As a guiding principle, STAG, like SEA, should be applied proportionately in order to give sufficient information for the RTP to make an informed choice between various alternatives. That said, RTPs will be responsible for significant budgets that will be spent to implement the RTS. Therefore, the RTS needs to founded on robust, objective and evidence-led appraisal in order for the RTP and the Scottish Executive to be assured that public money is being invested wisely and to good effect.
A quick high-level assessment (sifting) based on the issues report should enable the RTP to generate a number of realistic, alternative strategies for more detailed consideration during the options appraisal stage. The process of consulting upon and appraising the options, and deciding upon the preferred option should also be used to generate the information required for the SEA Environmental Report.
It may be necessary to spend some time refining what may have been, of necessity, rough cost estimates and to test viability further against the economic criteria in STAG. This may include, if necessary, some high-level modelling so that the RTP can demonstrate with more confidence the projected costs and benefits of the chosen RTS.
More information is available in the STAG document, which can be found on the Scottish Executive's transport analysis guidance website at - www.scot-tag.org.uk
See also the contact details for STAG advice in Section 3 of this guidance.
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