SEA in Swedish transportation policy‐making and planning — political ambitions and practice

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the aim to incorporate SEA into Swedish strategic transportation planning has been repeatedly expressed in government documents and directives. To support a successful implementation, efforts have been made to develop tools and methods for the integration of SEA into strategic transportation planning. These efforts concern, for example, the application of SEA in corridor development and longterm transportation planning. The practical experiences of SEA in strategic transportation planning have been influenced by the ambiguity of the scope and structure of SEA. In this paper the process of implementing the SEA in Swedish transportation planning will be reviewed. The review relates to political ambitions and practice, and highlights the methodological development of SEA applications in the Swedish transport sector.

Strategic environmental assessment implementation of transport and mobility plans. The case of Italian regions and provinces

“…According to Corpade et al (2012), public participation enhances transparency of both SEA process and its results. According to many authors (Brokking et al, 2004;Diamantini and Geneletti, 2004;Corpade et al, 2012), SEA report is a fundamental document including: i) a description of relevant interactions of the plan under scrutiny with the environment; ii) an analysis of the status quo ante of the environmental components (biodiversity, population, health, soil, water, air, cultural heritage, landscape, etc. ); iii) an evaluation of direct, indirect, cumulative and synergic impacts of the plan on the environment; iv) an indication of measures able to mitigate and compensate the impacts; and v) a prevision on the development of the monitoring phase.…”

“…According to many authors (Brokking et al, 2004;Fischer, 2006;Corpade et al, 2012), the assessment of environmental effects brought by a new transport infrastructure should develop through different decisional tiers. First, SEA should be implemented on transport policies, plans and programs and provide the framework for succeeding EIA procedures of programmed transport projects (Diamantini and Geneletti, 2004).…”

“…As reported in Table 2, several authors have studied environmental objectives of SEAs developed for national transport plans in Europe (Sheate, 1992;Fischer, 1999Fischer, , 2006Jansson, 1999;Brokking et al, 2004;Diamantini and Geneletti, 2004;Hildén et al, 2004;European Commission, 2005;Corpade et al, 2012;Finnveden and Åkerman, 2014).…”

“…According to Brokking et al (2004), Sweden has taken into account environmental effects of transport plans since the 1990s, when a very similar procedure was developed even before the approval of the Directive. Brokking et al (2004) observe that although this procedure was ground-breaking in Europe, it was usually activated in the last stages of the approval process of a plan thus too late for a correct analysis of the environmental concerns.…”

“…Brokking et al (2004) observe that although this procedure was ground-breaking in Europe, it was usually activated in the last stages of the approval process of a plan thus too late for a correct analysis of the environmental concerns. Diamantini and Geneletti (2004) have analysed SEA implementation of the mobility plan approved by the autonomous province of Trento, Italy.…”