Environmental Impact Assessment
When is an Environmental Impact Assessment required?
The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact
Assessment) Regulations (1999) set out
the circumstances in which an Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) is required.
Environmental Statements must be provided for any development
that falls within schedule 1
of the Environment Impact (Assessment) regulations 1999 and
for some schedule 2 projects.
a list of all schedule 1 and schedule 2 development. It also
includes a comprehensive checklist
for matters that should be included in an environmental
statement.
Where EIA is required, an Environmental Statement in the form
set out in Schedule 4 to the
regulations must be provided.
Where EIA is not required, the local planning authority may
still require environmental information
to be provided. An applicant may request a ‘screening opinion’
(i.e. to determine whether EIA
is required) from the planning authority before submitting the
application.
Note – applications incorporating an
environmental statement have to be dealt with by a different
procedure and are likely to take longer to determine. The
legislation allows a period of 16 weeks
for a decision to be reached.