What is SEA, and why it is done?

SEA is the assessment of the effects of a plan, programme (project) or strategy on the environment.

It is central to achieving the Scottish Government's purpose of sustainable economic growth because it ensures greater consideration of the impact of public plans on Scotland's environment.

This project is subject to SEA assessment, as it is likely there will be significant environmental effects, due to its scale and it creating a new road that will go through the countryside.

Reports, appendices and maps

As part of this, we have produced an Environmental Report which assesses the project against potential environmental effects and how we will aim to reduce these.

The main report is accompanied by a number of appendices and maps showing the routes and environmental constraints that have been considered. We recommend you read all the information together.

Consultation responses

We received responses from the Consulting Authorities who recommended minor amendments to:

• the Environmental Report
• appendix C - Baseline Information

These changes have been made, and the updated documents are available for you to view.

Post-Adoption Statement

The last stage in the process is the Post-Adoption Statement. This explains how environmental considerations have been taken into account by the proposal.

It also explains why the approach adopted was decided upon, and arrangements for monitoring the effects of the project.

What have we already done?

Scoping

The Scoping Report explained the approach to assessing environmental implications.

The Scoping Report and the responses to it from the three consulting authorities is available on the SEA Gateway using reference 01703.

Our approach to SEA was to consider the implications of the project against the SEA objectives identified in the State of the Environment Report.