430
requirements of landscape plans, but can deviate from them if appropriate reasons
are given in the planning process. Thus, there is a strong link between landscape and
spatial planning (at the regional and federal state level) and land use planning (at the
local level), even if landscape planning remains independent. Furthermore, all spatial and land use plans (and in some federal states, also landscape plans), are usually
subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) according to the EU
SEA Directive, by which potential impacts of plans on the environment and on
human health are assessed. In the following text we concentrate on landscape plans
at municipal level (aka ‘The local landscape plan’), as this is a sufficiently concrete
level (scale usually 1:10.000), appropriate for considering health issues related to
distinct areas; although health topics could also be an issue at other levels in the
planning system.
19.3.2 The (Landscape) Planning System in the UK
In the UK, planning is devolved to the four countries of England, Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland, whose enabling legislation and guidance tools are largely
country-specific (Winter et al. 2016). The English planning system, on which we
put a certain focus here, differs strongly from the German one; with the ‘Localism
Act’ of 2011 the regional planning tier was abolished and almost all planning
responsibility was conferred to the local level. The only guidance for local planning
is given by the ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ (NPPF, Department for
Communities and Local Government 2012), which has to be “taken into account in
the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans, and is a material consideration in
planning decisions” (ibid., p. 1), the legislative basis of which are the ‘Planning &
Compulsory Purchase Act’ (2004) and the ‘Town and Country Planning Regulations’
(2012). Local Plans have taken over the function of the former ‘Local Development
Frameworks,’ which were a portfolio of different planning documents, with a ‘Core
Strategy’ as their central element. Both kinds of local planning documents still coexist and have to consider environmental and landscape issues, according to sections 9 (‘Protecting Green Belt land’) and 11 (‘Conserving and Enhancing the
Natural Environment’) of the NPPF. Under the Town and Country Planning
(Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, local planning authorities
have a general responsibility to consider the environmental implications of developments that are subject to planning control. The 2017 Regulations integrate
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures into this framework but apply
only to those projects that are likely to have significant effects on the environment,
e.g. airports, major road developments; power generation installations; mining, etc.
Despite environmental issues only playing a subordinate role in the formal UK
planning systems, no separate or independent landscape planning system exists. One
could argue that this obvious neglect of environmental and landscape issues in UK
land-use planning has led to attempts to fill that gap, for example, by a considerable
amount of local and (sub-)regional level, informal planning instruments such as
S. Heiland et al.
requirements of landscape plans, but can deviate from them if appropriate reasons
are given in the planning process. Thus, there is a strong link between landscape and
spatial planning (at the regional and federal state level) and land use planning (at the
local level), even if landscape planning remains independent. Furthermore, all spatial and land use plans (and in some federal states, also landscape plans), are usually
subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) according to the EU
SEA Directive, by which potential impacts of plans on the environment and on
human health are assessed. In the following text we concentrate on landscape plans
at municipal level (aka ‘The local landscape plan’), as this is a sufficiently concrete
level (scale usually 1:10.000), appropriate for considering health issues related to
distinct areas; although health topics could also be an issue at other levels in the
planning system.
19.3.2 The (Landscape) Planning System in the UK
In the UK, planning is devolved to the four countries of England, Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland, whose enabling legislation and guidance tools are largely
country-specific (Winter et al. 2016). The English planning system, on which we
put a certain focus here, differs strongly from the German one; with the ‘Localism
Act’ of 2011 the regional planning tier was abolished and almost all planning
responsibility was conferred to the local level. The only guidance for local planning
is given by the ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ (NPPF, Department for
Communities and Local Government 2012), which has to be “taken into account in
the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans, and is a material consideration in
planning decisions” (ibid., p. 1), the legislative basis of which are the ‘Planning &
Compulsory Purchase Act’ (2004) and the ‘Town and Country Planning Regulations’
(2012). Local Plans have taken over the function of the former ‘Local Development
Frameworks,’ which were a portfolio of different planning documents, with a ‘Core
Strategy’ as their central element. Both kinds of local planning documents still coexist and have to consider environmental and landscape issues, according to sections 9 (‘Protecting Green Belt land’) and 11 (‘Conserving and Enhancing the
Natural Environment’) of the NPPF. Under the Town and Country Planning
(Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, local planning authorities
have a general responsibility to consider the environmental implications of developments that are subject to planning control. The 2017 Regulations integrate
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures into this framework but apply
only to those projects that are likely to have significant effects on the environment,
e.g. airports, major road developments; power generation installations; mining, etc.
Despite environmental issues only playing a subordinate role in the formal UK
planning systems, no separate or independent landscape planning system exists. One
could argue that this obvious neglect of environmental and landscape issues in UK
land-use planning has led to attempts to fill that gap, for example, by a considerable
amount of local and (sub-)regional level, informal planning instruments such as
S. Heiland et al.