What are the reasonable alternatives to the ICP?

Two reasonable alternatives to the ICP have been identified:

• ‘Maintaining the Ferries Plan’, which only scores positively on SEA topic 9 (population and human health), reflecting that it was originally conceived to prioritise socioeconomic growth over other environmental aims and aspirations. The expanded scope of the ICP in relation to the Ferries Plan can be considered to overall decrease the potential negative effects that implementing this alternative would have, and to overall increase the opportunities for enhancement, ensuring that existing issues that have been identified by island communities can be addressed, and that actions are aligned with higher-level policies.
• ‘No replacement Plan’, which would also fail to address existing issues that have been identified by island communities, and hinder the management and delivery of ferry services by the Scottish government.

Overall, having the ICP in place has a more positive effect on SEA objectives than these two alternatives, and it ensures that existing issues identified by ferry users and island communities can be addressed, increasing opportunities for environmental enhancement and facilitating management and delivery of ferry services by the Scottish government.