Methodology

Scope of the Assessment

Plan Components

Table 1 - Components of the draft SAP subject to assessment and Table 2 - Components of the draft VPP subject to assessment justify which components of the SAP and VPP have been subject to SEA.

Table 1 - Components of the draft SAP subject to assessment

Component

Subject to SEA?

Vision

Yes - As it sets the overall direction of the ICP and is intended to guide long-term planning and decision-making.

Priorities

No - Priorities are considered through the assessment of desired Outcomes under each priority, but not as separate plan components.

Outcomes

Yes - As they specify the overall objectives / desired Outcomes from implementing the ICP.

Theme-based commitments

No - Themes and theme-based commitments are considered through the assessment of desired Outcomes. Due to their nature and specificity, their assessment is considered outside the scope of SEA.
Table 2 - Components of the draft VPP subject to assessment

Component

Subject to SEA?

Objectives

Yes - As they specify the objectives of the VPP, defined based on the Vision and Priorities set out in the SAP.

Outputs

No - Outputs are considered through the assessment of VPP Objectives, as outputs are to be realised through the achievement of the VPP Objectives. At the same time, outputs will also contribute to meeting the Outcomes defined in the SAP, which are also assessed separately.

Projects recommended

Yes - Considering the two broad categories of projects recommended, i.e. fleet renewal and port upgrades, and avoiding site-specific / project-specific assessments, considered outside the scope of SEA.

SEA topics

The components of the SAP and VPP have been assessed against the SEA topics scoped in during the scoping stage, which include the following:

  • Climatic Factors (assessed through other SEA topics)
  • Air Quality
  • Noise
  • Soil/ Sediment
  • Water Environment (fresh and marine)
  • Biodiversity
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Landscape
  • Material Assets
  • Population and Human Health

Bespoke Assessment Framework

The bespoke assessment framework that has been developed to test the components of the SAP and VPP scoped in is shown below. It is structured around the SEA topics ‘scoped in’ and is made up of a number of SEA objectives and assessment guide questions.

Air Quality

SEA Objective - To maintain or improve air quality, reducing transport-related emissions of key pollutants, and to contribute to climate change mitigation, incl. meeting Scotland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets.

  • Does the Plan contribute to reducing the impact of transport on air quality (through a reduction in the need to travel / modal shift)?
  • Does the Plan contribute to reduction of emissions of pollutants to air, including in sensitive areas such as designated Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs)?
  • Does the Plan seek to reduce GHG emissions and meet GHG targets?

Noise

SEA Objective - To reduce exposure to transport-related airborne / underwater noise.

  • Does the Plan seek to reduce noise emissions associated with the transport network during operational phase?
  • Does the Plan consider management of noise emissions during construction?

Soil/ Sediment

SEA Objective - To maintain and / or improve soil/ marine sediment quality and prevent any further degradation of soils/sediments.

  • Does the Plan contribute to conserving or reducing the loss of soil, coastal erosion / marine sediment erosion?
  • Does the Plan contribute to reducing / managing levels of soil/ marine sediment contamination during the construction and operational phases?

Water Environment (fresh and marine)

SEA Objective - To maintain or improve the benefits provided by the water environment (incl. rivers, lochs, estuaries, coastal areas and groundwater).

  • Does the Plan contribute to the water environment objectives for water quality, water resources, fish migration and physical condition across Scotland’s water bodies (marine and fresh)?
  • Does the Plan decrease the number of people or assets at risk of flooding (tidal, fluvial)?

Biodiversity

SEA Objective - To protect, restore and enhance biodiversity, including in the marine environment.

  • Does the Plan contribute to protecting, and enhancing biodiversity, including designated sites?
  • Does the Plan decrease risks associated with the spreading / management of non-native species (aquatic and terrestrial)?
  • Does the Plan contribute to improving ecological connectivity and promoting positive effects on biodiversity?
  • Does the Plan promote effective management of pressures and implementation of protection measures on biodiversity?

Cultural Heritage

SEA Objective - To maintain, protect and enhance the historic environment, including marine heritage assets.

  • Does the Plan seek to protect and promote the historic environment?
  • Does the Plan seek to protect key views to and from heritage assets?
  • Does the Plan promote opportunities to enhance the historic environment?

Landscape

SEA Objective - To maintain, protect, enhance and sustainably manage landscape character, local distinctiveness and scenic value, including in relation to the marine environment.

  • Does the Plan seek to protect, enhance, or restore landscape character and local distinctiveness and scenic value?
  • Does the Plan seek to enhance, promote or maintain people’s enjoyment and understanding of the landscape?
  • Does the Plan seek to protect, enhance, or restore and sustainably manage special qualities of designated sites?

Material Assets

SEA Objective - To promote the sustainable use and management of existing / planned transport infrastructure and resources and meet circular economy objectives.

  • Does the Plan support the efficient and sustainable use and management of resources and infrastructure (including energy)?
  • Does the Plan support the whole life cycle of infrastructure / circular economy?
  • Does the Plan support the adoption of the waste hierarchy across all stages (construction, operation, and decommissioning phases)?
  • Does the Plan encourage nature-based solutions, including blue-green infrastructure?
  • Does the Plan support the development of a safe, reliable, and resilient transport network, including in response to climate change projections for Scotland?

Population and Human Health

SEA Objective - To improve the health and wellbeing of the population, particularly island communities, and support sustainable economic development.

  • Does the Plan promote health and wellbeing?
  • Does the Plan ensure safe and sustainable access to essential services, employment, tourism and recreational spaces?
  • Does the Plan improve transport services and connectivity, including active travel?
  • Does the Plan seek to reduce disparities in poverty and social deprivation?
  • Does the Plan facilitate sustainable economic development, improving competitiveness, productivity, and investment for local businesses, including within the tourism sector?
  • Does the Plan consider future capacity needs of the network taking demographic and societal changes into account?

The assessment framework has been developed in consultation with statutory consultees (see Appendix 2), and has been informed by relevant SEA guidance, including the Scottish Government SEA Guidance, Consideration of Climatic Factors within SEA guidance, SEPA SEA guidance, and Scottish Natural Heritage Landscape Considerations in SEA guidance.

The assessment guide questions have provided a systematic way of interrogating the SAP / VPP components and have been used to target specific potential effects.

The assessment of environmental effects has been qualitative and has been informed by professional judgement and experience with other SEAs. A proforma has been used to include commentary as to the reasoning for identified environmental effects (see Appendix 4). It should be noted that environmental effects have been identified in the absence of any mitigation, which is proposed where relevant.

Colour coding has been used to ensure the effects are visually apparent at a glance as shown in Table 3 – Assessment scoring criteria to be used in the assessment of the SAP and VPP. It should be noted that when more than one score has been considered to apply to a given effect, the colour associated with the “worst” score has been represented.

Table 3 - Assessment scoring criteria to be used in the assessment of the SAP and VPP

Coding

Score

Description

PP

Positive significant

will result in potentially significant positive effect on the SEA objective

P

Positive

will result in potentially positive effect on the SEA objective

O

Neutral

will result in potentially no effect on the SEA objective

N

Negative

will result in potentially negative effect on the SEA objective

NN

Negative significant

will result in potentially significant negative effect on the SEA objective

U

Unknown

The relationship is unknown, or there is not enough information to make an assessment

Potential effects have been characterised in relation to their:

  • Duration, noting whether these are short-term (<1 year), medium-term (1 – 10 years) or long-term (>10 years).
  • All potential effects identified are considered to repeat over time unless otherwise stated.
  • All potential effects identified are considered reversible unless otherwise stated.

Assessment of Cumulative Effects

A cumulative effect can occur when two or more environmental effects combine to have a greater effect on a given SEA topic.

The assessment of cumulative effects has been undertaken following the assessment of individual components of the SAP and VPP and has evaluated the combined significance of potentially overlapping effects on each SEA topic, judging whether, together, they result in a greater effect than would occur individually.

Assessment of Reasonable Alternatives

The assessment of the ‘Maintaining the Ferries Plan’ alternative has been undertaken using the bespoke assessment framework, focusing on the following components of the Ferries Plan (2013-2022):

  • Intention
    • “deliver first class sustainable ferry services to communities, stimulating social and economic growth across Scotland”.
  • Working principles:
    • concentrate on the correct service profile to meet the needs of the community.
    • ensure that there is always sufficient capacity on the route to meet demand.
    • ensure wherever possible that each island or remote peninsula community has at least one direct ferry route to the Scottish mainland.
    • all second routes on the network are currently required.
    • work towards combining routes that overlap and compete with one another so that we emerge with a stronger single route option.
    • strengthen and augment existing routes rather than start up new routes.
  • Proposal categories
    • improved services
    • changes to routes, including new routes
    • new vessel provision (i.e. purchase / charter / replace)
    • port upgrades

Scoring has then been compared to that obtained for the ICP components.

It should be noted that the Ferries Plan also included other components, such as a fares policy, funding mechanism and governance framework. However, these are not considered directly comparable to the components of the ICP subject to assessment and have therefore been excluded in the assessment of reasonable alternatives.

Given that the ‘No replacement Plan’ alternative has no associated plan components, its assessment has been undertaken at a high-level, and in a narrative form, considering to what extent other more generic and higher-level policies would address the ICP Vision and Outcomes, and assessing the associated environmental effects.

Mitigation and Monitoring

Where negative environmental effects and/or opportunities for environmental improvement have been identified, mitigation and enhancement measures have been proposed. Mitigation and enhancement measures have mainly been proposed in the form of:

  • changes to specific wording or adding of specific references in the description of SAP / VPP components
  • addition of policies to the ICP

Mitigation and enhancement measures are presented in the section Assessment Findings, clearly showing the link between potential effects and proposed mitigation/enhancement measures.

If significant negative environmental effects had been identified, monitoring indicators would have been proposed, proportional to the severity and likelihood of such adverse effects. It is noted that this Environmental Report has not identified significant negative effects.

Consultation

Statutory and public consultation have been key in the development of the ICP:

  • Information gathered through public consultations and engagements on a number of relevant plans and strategies (including NTS, NIP, STPR2, Project Neptune) and Parliamentary Committee reports (Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, Public Audit Committee, Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee) as well as extensive stakeholder engagement carried out by Transport Scotland Ferries Directorate, was used to inform the development of an internal draft SAP.
  • A pre-consultation draft of the VPP was shared with key stakeholders and published on Transport Scotland’s website in December 2022. Feedback received was used to inform consultation drafts of the updated VPP.
  • Consultation drafts of the SAP and VPP were subject to public consultation, supported by community engagement, between February and May 2024. An independent consultation and engagement analysis report and Transport Scotland Initial Responses were published in September 2024. Feedback received was used to inform post-consultation drafts dated December 2024 (internal versions), subject to the assessment presented in this Environmental Report.

Consultation has also been undertaken throughout the SEA process, including:

  • Statutory consultation on the Screening Report in May 2023.
  • Statutory consultation on the Scoping Report in October 2023.
  • Statutory consultation on the bespoke assessment framework and proposed changes to the scope of the SEA in December 2024.

In addition, the following consultation activities are currently planned:

  • Public and statutory consultation on the Environmental Report, anticipated between February and March 2025.

Limitations

A key difficulty encountered during the assessment was around the strategic high-level nature of the ICP and any uncertainty surrounding precisely how certain SEA topics could be affected. This issue resulted in many of the SEA objectives being given a (U - Unknown) or a (O - Neutral) score reflecting this uncertainty.

Although the ICP does include specific commitments and recommended projects, these have not been assessed individually as part of the SEA process. Should these or any other schemes be brough forward, they would need to be assessed against the Outcomes / Objectives within the ICP and, where relevant and required, be subject to environmental impact assessment (EIA) to ensure there are no significant negative impacts.

The information presented in this report is the result of a desk-based review of publicly available data and no formal requests for records, data or information have been made. Transport Scotland cannot be held liable for third party information. The cut-off date for when relevant baseline information was included in the baseline assessment was December 2024.

This report represents the independent views and recommendations of the consultants conducting the analysis, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions held by Transport Scotland.