A Critical Exploration of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan in Alberta

Abstract

The Government of Alberta has in recent years been implementing comprehensive land use planning through policy and legislation. This paper will be a critical exploration of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) under the Alberta Land and Stewardship Act. It will first bring the SSRP into a practical view by describing the South Saskatchewan region, discussing the relevant history of integrated landscape planning, provide an overview of the policy framework, and review the legal nature of the SSRP itself, including its structure and binding nature and interaction with other regulatory management. It will then discuss the SSRP’s status: its effective date being at September 1, 2014, amendments made to the final SSRP, and describe matters remaining to be completed for implementation. It will then discuss the effect the SSRP has had thus far. It will finally provide critical evaluation revisiting the controversy associated with land use planning in general, outlining the plan’s praise and criticism, in light of cumulative effects and other management objectives, refer to previous evaluation criteria, and provide analysis.