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Chapter 14: Monitoring

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Contents

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Legislative Requirements

• The relevant statutory provisions

Part 3 - Monitoring

• Proposed monitoring framework
• Timescales for monitoring
• Recording of monitoring activities and results
• Unforeseen adverse effects
• Provision of monitoring information
• Further reading

Part 1 - Introduction

14.1.1 Monitoring the environmental effects of the plan, programme or strategy ( PPS) is a key stage in the SEA process. The information gathered as a result of monitoring enables the Responsible Authority to track the environmental effects of the PPS, gauge the effectiveness of any mitigation measures employed, identify unforeseen effects and manage any uncertainty encountered in the assessment process e.g. in the prediction of certain environmental effects.

14.1.2 The purpose of this Chapter is to set out the requirements of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 ('the Act') for monitoring and provide guidance on the steps involved.

Part 2 - Legislative requirements

The relevant statutory provisions

14.2.1 Sections 14(1) and (2) of the Act require the Responsible Authority to assess the likely significant effects of a PPS on the environment and to provide the results in an Environmental Report. The information to be provided in Environmental Reports is set out in Section 14(3) and Schedule 3, and includes a description of the envisaged monitoring measures.

14.2.2 Section 18 of the Act provides that, as soon as is reasonably practicable after adoption of the PPS, the Responsible Authority must provide specified information in certain ways. That information includes the monitoring measures.

14.2.3 Section 19 of the Act requires the Responsible Authority to monitor the significant environmental effects of the implementation. Monitoring should be undertaken in a manner which inter alia enables the Authority to identify any unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage and undertake appropriate action.

Part 3 - Monitoring

14.3.1 The Act requires the Responsible Authority to monitor the significant environmental effects of the PPS implementation. This needs to be done in a way that enables the Responsible Authority to identify unforeseen adverse effects.

14.3.2 Monitoring can be used to answer such questions as:

• Were the assessment's predictions of environmental effects accurate?
• Are mitigation measures performing as well as expected?
• Are there any adverse environmental effects?

Proposed monitoring framework

14.3.3 The Responsible Authority may find it useful to work through these steps when developing a monitoring system for SEA:

Step 1: identify the scope of the monitoring i.e. what needs to be monitored

14.3.4 The Environmental Report sets the framework for monitoring by identifying the likely significant environmental effects of the PPS. The monitoring should therefore focus on environmental effects which result from implementation of the PPS. The possible need for remedial action should also be considered when developing the monitoring framework.

14.3.5 Monitoring measures should therefore be clearly linked to the SEA process, for example:

• the SEA objectives and indicators;
• the features of the environmental baseline that will indicate the effects of the PPS;
• the likely significant effects identified during the SEA; and
• mitigation measures.

14.3.6 Monitoring may also involve updating the environmental baseline information used in the environmental assessment, or filling in any of the gaps identified during the SEA.

Step 2: consider level of detail required and data sources

14.3.7 The type ( e.g. quantitative or qualitative) and the level of detail of monitoring required will depend on:

• the characteristics and level of detail of the PPS; and
• the type and nature of the effects being monitored.

14.3.8 The Responsible Authority should be aware of the potential difficulties of establishing a clear link between implementation of the PPS and identified changes in the environment; these could prove an obstacle to monitoring or to interpreting the results of monitoring. The Responsible Authority may be able to monitor the effects of the PPS directly, through monitoring changes in the environment ( i.e. impacts of the PPS). Alternatively, where direct monitoring is not possible or cannot be clearly linked to the PPS, monitoring may need to be indirect. Indirect monitoring focuses on the causes of change, so could consider the implementation of mitigation measures or "environmental pressure factors" such as emissions, amounts of waste, etc.

Step 3: set out monitoring framework/approach

14.3.9 Many Responsible Authorities will already have a monitoring system in place. As a starting point, the existing monitoring framework should be examined and built on, if appropriate, to meet the SEA monitoring requirements.

14.3.10 The SEA monitoring approach should cover the information at step 1, and provide the level of detail at step 2.

14.3.11 Monitoring is often undertaken using indicators which may be associated with SEA objectives. When selecting indicators, it is good practice to consider how they might be analysed. Analysis of indicators may include:

• Baselines and predicted effects: changes in the direction of indicators can be measured against the baseline position and predicted effects documented in the Environmental Report ( e.g. decreasing/increasing areas of habitat).
• Benchmarking: Changes in the direction of indicators can also be measured against other comparable locations or receptors to establish whether similar effects are occurring. Benchmarking may help in the assessment of relative performance by identifying external forces of change.
• Use of qualitative and quantitative information: Monitoring of most indicators is likely to be based on both types of information.
• Interpretative commentaries: The main task of analysis is providing a considered interpretation of the results.

Timescales for monitoring

14.3.12 The Act does not prescribe a timescale for SEA monitoring activities. In some cases timescales may be set out in other statutory requirements or administrative procedures. The European Commission Guidance on European Directive 2001/42/ EC suggests that monitoring and reporting activities may be integrated into the planning cycle or that it may coincide with "the regular revision of a plan or programme depending on which effects are to be monitored and upon the length of intervals between revisions" (paragraph 8.5). Where there are no such regular revisions, "time and frequency for monitoring….should be laid down, either in a general rule or in the context of each … Environmental Report".

Recording of monitoring activities and results

14.3.13 The Act does not prescribe how monitoring activities and results should be recorded. However, Responsible Authorities may wish to consider the following principles when recording monitoring:

• be transparent and accessible;
• set out details of the PPS ( e.g. title, area etc) and web link to the relevant PPS;
• describe the monitoring approach;
• set out who is responsible for monitoring tasks ( e.g. collection, processing and evaluation of environmental information);
• set out monitoring timescales, frequency and geographical extent;
• set out indicators to be used for monitoring;
• set out monitoring methods;
• record monitoring activities and results;
• record data sources, gaps in data sources/uncertainties;
• record action taken to address gaps in data;
• record unforeseen significant effects identified; and
• record if appropriate remedial action taken and effectiveness; record any difficulties encountered and any changes to the monitoring framework/strategy/indicators.

Unforeseen adverse effects

14.3.14 SEA monitoring activities must enable the Responsible Authority to identify any unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage, and to take appropriate remedial action (Section 19). The Act does not require a PPS to be modified if monitoring reveals adverse effects on the environment. However, monitoring is intended to enable mitigation activities to be taken, and action may be required either by the Responsible Authority or other bodies. The Responsible Authority may find it useful to establish, in advance, a mechanism or framework to identify if and when remedial action is needed in response to adverse effects, including:

• specific criteria or thresholds which trigger remedial action e.g. in order to comply with statutory requirements or administrative provisions;
• potential remedial actions that could be taken if a significant environmental effect was identified; and
• those responsible for taking the remedial action.

14.3.15 Remedial action will vary and could include:

• modification of the PPS (note that some modifications may require an SEA should they have likely significant environmental effects);
• measures to prevent, reduce and as fully as possible offset any significant adverse effects; and
• consultation/collaboration with other bodies and the public where appropriate ( e.g. where the remedial action is the responsibility of another body and/or the proposed action is of public interest).

Provision of monitoring information

14.3.16 The Act does not prescribe how or when to make SEA monitoring information available.

14.3.17 However, in the spirit of SEA and, in order to comply with the legislation listed below, Responsible Authorities are expected to make available the results of their SEA monitoring.

14.3.18 There are two key pieces of legislation which relate to information provision:

• The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002; and
• The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Further reading

The Practical Guide to the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/290/APracticalGuidetotheStrategicEnvironmentalAssessmentDirective_id1143290.pdf

Guidance is also available on the Europa website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eia/030923_sea_guidance.pdf

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