Habitat Regulations Assessment: Protected Sites screening tool
The Crown Estate is deemed to be a competent authority under the UK Habitats Regulations and therefore must consider if it needs to carry out a plan-level Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) for leasing the seabed to activities such as Offshore Wind. The first stage in the HRA process is screening, the identification of European sites (Special Protection Areas – SPAs, Special Areas of Conservation – SACs) and Ramsar sites and their features for which a Likely Significant Effect (LSE) cannot be excluded.
The initial stages of Plan level HRA (Principles, Screening and Report to Inform Appropriate Assessment – see Figure 1 below) are undertaken by The Crown Estate’s technical advisors following competitive tendering. Once established the HRA process commences and part of the screening utilises the Protected Sites (PS) Screening tool, initially developed by NIRAS for The Crown Estate for the Round 4 Plan level HRA.
Figure 1. Summary of HRA Process and Stages. The Crown Estate led activity in blue, technical consultant led in white.
The methods and criteria used to identify sites and features are set out in the Screening Tool Principles Report and were shared with The Crown Estate’s PSA Expert Working Group (EWG) for consultation during the associated Plan Level Assessment. This document sets out the spatial parameters that are used (through GIS analysis) to determine whether there is a realistically conceivable link (pathway) for an impact arising from a Proposed Plan or project to affect Protected Sites and their features.
The Protected Sites screening tool has been developed to undertake plan-level screening for fixed and floating offshore wind and marine aggregate extraction in an efficient, consistent and repeatable manner, enabling its application to future plan-level assessments. The Crown Estate has supported further development of the tool to allow end users to upload development area shapefiles at plan or project level, which are used solely for the purposes of screening.
The purpose of the tool is to identify Protected Sites (SACs, SPAs and Ramsar sites) and their features where connectivity exists and to present screening results in a clear and concise format, reducing the need for extensive documentation, static maps and tables. The tool incorporates an innovative web-based GIS platform integrating interactive data sharing and advanced spatial analysis. The tool includes the capability to run screening for Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ).
The tool identifies the Protected Sites and features that have connectivity to any plan or project. Where connectivity is identified based on the specified spatial parameters, there may be potential for Likely Significant Effects (LSE) to occur. It should be noted that in some cases, further consideration may mean that an LSE can be excluded, despite potential connectivity.
User guide
Instructions for use of the PS screening tool are provided within the user guide below, including guidance on uploading development area shapefiles for screening. Any shapefile uploaded by an end user is only temporarily accessed for the purposes of the screening and is not stored within the tool or the underlying GIS web server.
Terms and conditions of the tool
Please read these terms and conditions carefully before accessing, downloading or using data made available on the site.
The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
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Contact
If you have any questions or comments in relation to the PS screening tool, please contact The Crown Estate at: PS_ScreeningTool@thecrownestate.co.uk
