CLIENT: Town Planning and Housing Department, Ministry of the Interior
The scope of the Project was the provision of services for the elaboration of a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEPA) of the Local Plan of the Non-Occupied Ammochostos District that was under preparation, to assess the significant environmental effects that are likely to result from any changes in the town planning policy/ provisions in the area and to propose the appropriate mitigation measures.
The published provisions of the Policy Statement in Rural areas applied to date in this area. This arrangement, however, was not satisfactory, as a comprehensive / modern Local Plan should be developed for the region, dealing in detail with the provisions for the area development, as in the case of other developing and / or remarkable areas of Cyprus, but also in the range of the effort for more detailed planning to cover most areas of the countryside with Local Plans against the Policy Statement. The under study Local Plan area included the Municipality of Sotira and the communities of Liopetri, Frenaros, Avgorou, Aghios Georgios Acheritou (Vrisoulon), Achna and Xylofagou (area outside the British Bases).
The tasks that were successfully completed and the services that were provided were:
- Analysis and description of the context and objectives of the Plan, establishing the baseline and deciding on the scope.
- Detailed description of the Plan, and specifically of the amendments of transitioning from the Policy Statement to the Local Plan, with a focus on those aspects that have a potential environmental impact.
- Developing and refining alternative options, assessing effects and assist in the refinement of the Plan and in the selection of the one to be further analysed.
- Analysis and presentation of the current state of all relevant environmental elements, as well as of the trends and expected developments.
- Detailed assessment and evaluation of the significant environmental impacts of the amendments that result from transitioning from the Policy Statement to the Local Plan, also taking into account cumulative impacts.
- Identification and proposal of appropriate mitigation measures in order to be incorporated into the plan-making process.
- Formulation of appropriate Monitoring Programme for the impacts and the effectiveness of measures.
- Consultation and Public Participation Campaign with the public and relevant stakeholders.
Presentations of the Environmental Report to the public and to the Environmental Authority.
