How to navigate the site

The Sustainability Appraisal Toolkit is divided into a number of categories or 'themes', all fit under the four over arching themes of Sustainable Consumption and Production, Climate Change and Energy, Natural Resource Protection and Environmental Enhancement, and lastly Sustainable Communities all of which are important for a  sustainable future for the Northwest. Each category is identified in the menu on the left hand side of the screen. Clicking on the theme will direct you to a screen that asks you a question about the likely impact of your policy or proposal in relation to the theme.

You are given a number of standard answers to choose from for each question, ranging from a significant positive to a significant negative impact, and including options if the theme or the particular question is 'not relevant' or if the likely impact is 'not known'.

Your answer will determine the colour code ascribed to the theme in the left hand menu. This 'traffic light' system will help you to target the iterative process of improving outcomes where impacts are initially envisaged as negative.

Concise background information is presented above the question to help you determine its relevance to your policy or proposal. More detailed information is available through the links provided on each question page:

• More information on this topic - a more comprehensive account of current policy and strategy drivers relevant to the particular theme, with direct links to source documents provided for ease of reference.

A box allows you to mitigate your answer, as well as actions for improvement. You will have to provide this information to register the response and ensure that the outcome of your appraisal is transparent. Your answer may be qualitative or supported by quantitative information.

Depending on your answer to specific questions, further questions in the same or different objectives may become recommended.

You can choose the type of output that you generate by completing the Integrated Appraisal Toolkit, which can include a printout of your answers and justifications for each of the questions (which may be a useful complement to any funding application that you submit in relation to project proposals), or a colour-coded summary of your answers.