Sustainability Appraisal

West Mersea – Dawes Lane and Brierley: No MCZ Consideration and Cumulative Impacts.
The original Dawes Lane and Brierley allocations were approved without any consideration of the Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ act dated 2009), despite proximity and potential functional links to protected intertidal and estuarine habitats. The Sustainability Appraisal and Emerging Allocations Biodiversity Assessment (Colchester City Council, 2024–25) fail to address this omission. The Strategic Biodiversity Assessment (Jan 2025) confirms that irreplaceable and Priority habitats (Section 41, NERC Act 2006) must always be protected from harm. The Plan now proposes an additional 300 dwellings at Dawes Lane, increasing total development pressure in West Mersea to approximately 600 dwellings, yet the SA continues to treat the sites in isolation, without cumulative or in-combination assessment, contrary to SEA and Habitats Regulations. Additional development increases load on the West Mersea Wastewater Recycling Centre (CSO), creating pathways for likely significant effects on the MCZ, SPA, Ramsar site, and SAC. The Plan should therefore explicitly assess the MCZ, cumulative impacts, and CSO/wastewater effects, and reconsider whether the scale of development is consistent with SA Objective 8, Biodiversity harm scoring, and statutory obligations.