The SA/SEA of the RSS for the East of England has found that:
"the great majority of the impacts of policies are positive. The pattern of development which the RSS seeks
to encourage should make the region's environment, and quality of life for its residents, much better than
would be case without it,"
However, the SA/SEA has also found that it will be extremely difficult to implement the RSS in a way that
meets all its policy objectives because of the 'step-change1 in delivery of housing, employment and
infrastructure called for in the RSS. This may help to achieve some of the economic and social goals
for the region, it is also likely to lead to a number of significant adverse impacts on the environment,
despite many good environmental policy safeguards in the RSS.
The RSS lacks the powers to ensure that development meets true sustainability standards. The scale and
pace of growth envisaged is likely to be highly environmentally damaging unless planning controls are
combined with other measures to ensure that new development achieves a 'step change' improvement in
resource intensity, including approaching zero net climate change impacts, piped water demand, road traffic
generation and loss of wildlife habitat.
The SA/SEA has helped to influence the content of RSS from its inception, through to the draft being put
forward for public consultation. Many earlier recommendations for improvement have been taken up. But a
number of outstanding and additional recommendations remain that would further improve the sustainability
performance of the RSS.
Given the challenges ahead, it is essential to ensure that the overall objectives of RSS feed through
into other delivery mechanisms, such as Local Development Frameworks, Local Transport Plans, and
infrastructure funding. It will also be essential to monitor the sustainability outcomes that can
be attributed to the RSS. This will help to determine at as early a stage as possible whether development
is being delivered in accordance with the RSS, and if not, where corrective action needs to be taken.