A Strategic Framework to Determine the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for Proposed Transport Schemes

Abstract

Against a background of greater commitment towards sustainable development at a national, European and world-wide level, and a recognized need for more guidance in strategic appraisal methodologies, a framework has been developed for the strategic appraisal of transport plans in the United Kingdom. This framework has been designed to be quick and easy to use. The importance of social as well as environmental variables has been stressed and these are an implicit part of the framework, which seeks to identify the best practicable environmental option (BPEO). As such, it is a methodology for identifying the best alternative from a range of transport options and locations, prior to the application of project-level environmental impact assessment (EIA). Research techniques and indicators are recommended for the users of the framework. Care has been taken in the development of the framework to keep the analysis transparent. It seeks to present a full analysis in a clear and concise way; as a result, the final choice of alternative is clear to all participants and the decision is left entirely to the decision-makers. It is considered that the framework could provide a suitable starting point for appraisals of transport schemes throughout the U.K. and, when it is considered that social impact assessment principles developed in the United States have been modified for use in this framework, the framework should have potential applications in other countries with further modification. Wherever it is applied, the framework will get better as people use it and develop it.