Local Transport Plans,

Strategic Environmental Assessment

and Health

Presented by Dr Salim Vohra

4th UK Transport Practitioners Meeting – ideas into reality, Manchester, July 2006
 Introduction
• Transport and health

• Early findings of a review of the health component of

SEAs on LTP2 for sixteen local authorities in England.

• Objectives of the review and methodology

• What we found

• Challenges for health in SEA policy and practice

Transport and health
 Objectives
• Examine what the SEA Directive and UK guidance says
about assessing health

• Number of SEA environmental reports available on the

web

• What definition of health was used in these SEAs

• Analysis of the environmental, health, social and economic

keywords used in sixteen English LTP2 environmental
reports

• Analysis of the ‘health’ objectives used in these SEAs

 Methodology
• Examination of SEA technical summary, main report and
appendices

• Close reading of SEA Directive and UK guidance

• Keyword analysis to develop keyword counts for each

environmental report and for the sixteen reports as a
whole

• Analysis of health objectives within and between

environmental reports
 Local Authorities studied
• Cornwall • Hampshire
• Cumbria • Merseyside SEA-HIA
• Durham • North Yorkshire
• Somerset • Shropshire
• East Riding • Suffolk SA-SEA
• East Sussex SA-SEA • West Midlands
• Essex
• Gloucestershire
• Greater Manchester SEA-HIA
• Greater Nottingham
 SEA Directive
(f) the likely significant effects on the environment,

including on issues such as biodiversity, population,

human health, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors,

material assets, cultural heritage including architectural

and archaeological heritage, landscape and

the interrelationship between the above factors;

A Practical Guide to the SEA Directive
• The SEA Directive requires consideration of the likely
significant effects of a plan or programme on human health.

• Responsible Authorities may find it helpful to draw on the

methods of Health Impact Assessment when considering
how a plan or programme might affect people’s health, and
how positive effects could be enhanced and negative effects
reduced.

• Information on HIA and health matters is included in

Frequently Asked Questions,

• and Appendix 4, Figure 10 includes sources of baseline

information on health.
A Practical Guide to the SEA Directive

• Examples of possible population and human health

objectives and indicators:
• create conditions to improve health and reduce health
inequalities
• promote healthy living
• protect and enhance human health
• reduce and prevent crime, reduce fear of crime
• decrease noise and vibration
• increase opportunities for indoor recreation and exercise

• The FAQ also advises Responsible Authorities to

contact local Directors of Public Health for advice
Transport Analysis Guidance Unit 2.11
SEA topic
NATA objective NATA sub-objective
(SEA Directive Annex 1f)
Noise Human health, population, inter-relationships
Local air quality Air, human health, population
Greenhouse gases Climatic factors
Landscape
Landscape
Townscape
Environment
Cultural heritage incl. architectural and
Heritage
archaeological heritage
Biodiversity Biodiversity, fauna, flora, soil
Water Environment Water
Physical fitness Human health, population
Accidents
Safety Human health, population
Security
Community severance
Accessibility Population
Access to the transport system
Public Accounts
Economy Business users and providers Material assets
Consumer Users
LTP2 SEA reports available on web
100

90

80

70
English Counties
London Broughs
60
Scotish Counties
Percentage

Welsh Counties
50

40

30

20

10

0
Percentage of LTP/ LIP/ LTS done by Percentage of LTP's w ith SEA's Percentage of SEA containing Health
each authority
 Definition of health used
• No explicit definition of health is used in the
Directive, in the two UK guidance documents or
the sixteen environmental reports examined

• No explicit definition of environment or any

other key terms

• Some use a narrow definition of health as

evidenced by the ‘health objectives used’ which
focus on lifestyle factors while other use a
broader definition with a focus on improving
access and health and reducing inequalities
 Average number of words per LTP environmental report

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
env ir
onme
nt

acces
s
ai r (w
hole w
ord)

heal th

susta
i nabl
e

safety

noise

biodiv
ersity

econ
om ic

acci d
ent

s ocia
l

sever
anc e

qualit
y of l ife

disab
led

econo
my
Keyword Analysis

s ecur
ity

depriv
ation

depriv
ed

in equ
alitie s

socia
l ex cl
usi on
 Keyword Analysis
• Environment 1. Social
• Access 2. Severance
• Air 3. Quality of life
• Health 4. Disabled
• Sustainable 5. Economy
• Safety 6. Security
• Noise 7. Deprivation
• Biodiversity 8. Deprived
• Economic 9. Inequalities
• Accident 10. Social exclusion
 SEA health objectives analysis
historic/architectural/archaeological/heritage

water quality/quantity

air quality/emissions/pollution/standards/objective

climate change/greenhouse gas emissions/CO2

soil quality/quantity

biodiversity

mineral resource/efficient materials use

crime/anti social behaviour (and safety/fear)

designated and protected sites/landscapes

flood risk

transport/road safety/accidents

diversity/distinctiveness/character/ quality of landscapes

accessibility jobs/shops/amenities/education/culture for all

improve health and reduce disparities/inequalities

greenspaces (town and countryside) enjoyment

noise

reduce waste (eg to landfill)/recycle

noise - human

healthier lifestyles/cycling/walking

community severance (social and physical)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Num ber of environm ental reports w ith the objective (out of a total of 16)
 SEA health objectives analysis
• reducing crime, fear of crime and/or anti-social behaviour (8th),
• transport and road safety (11th),
• accessibility to amenities, services and opportunities (13th),
• improving health and reduce inequalities (14th),
• enjoyment of green spaces and/or countryside (15th),
• noise impacts on humans (18th),
• healthier lifestyles, cycling and walking (19th)
• community severance - physical and social (20th)
 Overall findings
• Human health has been considered in the SEAs of LTP2s
in England and UK as a whole

• Environmental reports examined show that improving

health and reducing inequalities are key themes
particularly through:
• reducing crime and improving safety
• improving access to transport networks
• enhancing physical activity
• improvement and enjoyment of the natural environment

• Shows that many local authorities and SEA practitioners

have taken on board the legislative and guidance push
that human health should be considered in SEA
 Health in SEA: study challenges

• Is there a difference between physical severance and

social severance?

• How does severance relate to social exclusion?

• Is social exclusion the same as deprivation?

 Health in SEA:
policy and practice challenges
• Legislation and guidance does influence practice
significantly

• However this influence is not uniform

• There are important differences in how objectives have

been set and the way in which health has been
considered among the sixteen SEAs examined to date

• Some integrated HIA and SEAs have been undertaken,

however there are no clear differences between those
SEA that integrate an HIAs and those that don’t