Consultation on the Strategic Environmental Assessment – Environmental Report for the combined Proposed Ammonia Strategy and Revised Operational Protocol

Overview

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has published a Consultation on the Environmental Report for the Proposed Ammonia Strategy and the Revised Operational Protocol to assess the impacts of air pollution on the natural environment, as part of the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment.

Strategic Environmental Assessment is a systematic process for evaluating the environmental consequences of proposed plans or programmes to ensure environmental issues are fully integrated and addressed at the earliest appropriate stage of decision making, to promote sustainable development.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment process was introduced under European Directive 2001/42/EC12 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment. The SEA Directive requirements were transposed into Northern Irish domestic law through the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (SR 280/2004), hereafter referred to as ‘the Northern Ireland Regulations’.

The Northern Ireland Regulations require the Department to assess the likely significant effects of its plans and programmes on: “the environment, including on issues such as biodiversity, population, human health, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets, cultural heritage including architectural and archaeological heritage, landscape and the interrelationship of the above factors” including “secondary, cumulative, synergistic, short, medium, and long-term, permanent and temporary positive and negative effects”.

The purpose of the SEA Environmental Report is to evaluate the likely environmental effects of implementation and non-implementation of the Ammonia Strategy and revised Operational Protocol as per the requirements of the Directive and Northern Ireland Regulations. This includes an assessment of realistic strategic alternative approaches and options, as well as the suggestion of mitigation and enhancement measures to prevent, reduce and offset any significant adverse effects on the environment of implementing the proposed Strategy and Protocol. A non-technical summary of the information provided in this report has been provided at the start of the SEA Environmental Report. 

Why your views matter

As part of the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment statutory consultees and members of the public are invited to express their opinion on the Environmental Report, the Revised Operational Protocol, the Update on the Proposed Ammonia Strategy, and other associated documents.

Following this consultation on the SEA Environmental Report, opinions expressed by feedback from the statutory authorities and members of the public in response to the consultation exercise will be taken into consideration in production of the final SEA Statement, Revised Operational Protocol, Update on the Proposed Ammonia Strategy, and other associated documents. A summary of stakeholder responses will be published. 

If you are unable to complete the survey online, please contact the Ammonia Policy team by email at: ammonia@daera-ni.gov.uk

Responses to this consultation are invited until 11.59pm on
23 May April 2025.  Following the consultation, an Environmental Statement will be published on DAERA’s website.

If you would like to speak to a member of the team about
the SEA Consultation please let us know by contacting us at ammonia@daera-ni.gov.uk.

Privacy 

The information you provide in completing this consultation will be controlled and processed in line with Data Protection Legislation by DAERA. To find out more about how we handle your personal information, DAERA’s Privacy Notice can be viewed online at  http://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/daera-privacy-statement