Benefits arising from sea application—a comparative review of north west england, noord-holland, and brandenburg-berlin

This article seeks to determine the extent to which current assessment practice of transport infrastructure-related policies, plans, and programs (PPPs) results in certain benefits of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in three European Union regions, namely, the region of North West England (UK), the provincie (administrative region) Noord-Holland (The Netherlands), and the engerer Verflechtungsraum (planning region) Brandenburg-Berlin (Germany). The number of assessments of transport infrastructure-related PPPs that potentially may be called SEA in the three regions is estimated. Benefits that should result from the application of SEA can be determined based on a review of existing academic literature. An analytical framework is prepared, introducing evaluation criteria that are based on principles of SEA frameworks and procedures. The framework is used to analyze transport infrastructure-related PPPs at all administrative levels of decision-making in the three study regions. It is concluded that current assessment practice indeed results in certain SEA benefits, although to differing extents. It appears that there is more SEA-“related” experience in the European Union than is frequently anticipated in the academic literature. It is observed that case studies that were reviewed on a number of previous occasions and those that are included in this analysis do not necessarily appear to be “good practice” cases.