Why should you use it

• You will have ready access to summarised information on relevant Regional and National Policy documents in a format accessible to non-specialists.  The information covers all the key areas of the social, environmental, economic and spatial themes within the East Midlands Integrated Regional Strategy.
  
• You will have a range of questions to help you decide how your proposal will impact upon the individual Integrated Regional Strategy objectives.  Each question has a number of pointers to help you answer it.  These pointers are in the form of supplementary questions, each with its own relevant information.
  
• Your answers to questions are colour coded to produce an easy to use summary that readily identifies the potential positive and negative impacts of your proposal.  The justifications you give to the individual answers provide you with an auditable trail to support your overall assessment.  The summary and justifications combined also allows you to easily show why you chose one solution in preference to another.
  
• Your appraisal of a proposal will cover all the key areas and objectives within the East Midlands Integrated Regional Strategy, even those areas where you are not a specialist. 
  
• The comprehensive assessment will identify areas where aims are likely to be achieved, areas where further work may be necessary to enhance benefits, and areas where there may be unintended adverse impacts.  Appraisals of different proposals can be combined to identify whether a further proposal is necessary to accomplish overall aims.
  
• Your appraisal will cover elements of sustainability, health impact and inequalities assessment, environmental impact, rural proofing, climate change and more.
  
• The information and questions will be kept up to date to reflect changes in policy and feedback from users.