Environmental Impact Assessment

In England, EIA for town and country planning purposes is 'governed by the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017,' which apply to development that would otherwise be given planning permission under Part III of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 — and can even catch some forms of 'permitted development' that would not normally need an application. Whether a project needs a full EIA depends on which schedule it falls into: government planning practice guidance states that 'if it is listed in Schedule 1 an Environmental Impact Assessment is required in every case,' covering the largest or most environmentally significant projects (such as major infrastructure), while Schedule 2 covers a wider range of smaller projects — such as certain urban development or industrial estate schemes — that only require an EIA if they are likely to have significant environmental effects.

For Schedule 2 projects, the gateway question is decided through 'screening': the guidance describes screening as a procedure 'used to determine whether a proposed project is likely to have significant effects on the environment,' normally carried out early in a project's design but which can also happen after a planning application, or even an appeal, has been submitted. The Regulations formalise this through a 'screening opinion' from the local planning authority, and regulation 5 confirms a project only becomes 'EIA development' following 'the adoption by the relevant planning authority of a screening opinion to the effect that the development is EIA development' (or an equivalent screening direction from the Secretary of State). Where a project is screened in, the developer must prepare an Environmental Statement covering the project's likely significant effects, which forms part of the 'environmental information' the decision-maker must take into account before granting planning permission — and a developer can also choose to skip screening altogether and go straight to preparing an Environmental Statement for a Schedule 2 project.