The CDS Building Blocks

The following eight sections of this Guide cover the eight “Building Blocks” which add together to give the full CDS process. During development of a CDS, all of these 8 building blocks will need to be conducted. Five of the building blocks represent steps or stages of conducting a CDS. The other three building blocks are “cross-cutting”, this means that they must be addressed in each of the five stages listed above.

Each building block has the following sections:

• What is this building block?
• Why is this building block important?
• Key components of this building block
• How to do this building block
• How to monitor and evaluate this building block
• How to integrate consultation and participation into this building block
• How to integrate strategic environmental assessment (SEA) processes with this building block
• Helpful Hints
• Resources

The diagram that appears at the top of each page is shows the Building Block for that chapter shaded in a dark colour. This is a reminder of how that Building Block fits into the context of the whole CDS process.