Planning matters

March 1^st was a big day for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Wales as the 1999 EIA Regulations (as amended) were superseded by the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Wales) Regulations 2016.

The 1999 Regulations have seen me through many an EIA and, despite being a bit nostalgic as I put my well-thumbed hard copy of the Regulations into storage (I can’t quite bring myself to bin them yet), the new EIA Regulations in Wales are a positive step forward for development in Wales. The full Regulations can be read here, below are the main changes in a nutshell:~

The Schedule 2 EIA Screening thresholds have been increased for ‘Industrial Estate Development Projects’ and ‘Urban Development Projects’:

• The ‘Industrial Estate Development Projects’ threshold has increased from 0.5ha to 5ha.
• The ‘Urban Development Projects’ threshold has increased from 0.5ha to:
  
  • 1ha if the development does not include housing; or
  • The construction of over 150 new houses; or
  • An overall development area exceeding 5ha.

These revised thresholds should reduce the number of Screening Opinions required for development projects and focus EIA on those developments that are more likely to give rise to significant environmental effects.

The new Regulations consolidate the requirements brought in by letters to Chief Planning Officers since 1999. These provisions were already in place, but are now a lot easier to find:

• If a development is changed, the Schedule 2 thresholds apply to the development as a whole, not just the change or extension (even if the modification itself is beneath the Schedule 2 threshold).
• All changes or extensions to Schedule 1 projects must be screened (even if they are not Schedule 1 in their own right).
• The Local Authority and Welsh Ministers must give reasons for a negative screening decisions.
• Multi stage consents (i.e. Outline/Reserved Matters applications) must be screened:

i) to check if EIA is needed at the Reserved Matters stage when it had not been required at outline stage; and

ii) to check if any additional environmental information is required at the Reserved Matters stage if EIA has already been undertaken for the Outline planning permission.

New Schedule 1 and 2 categories are included on carbon capture and geological storage. (e.g. Gas Storage).

The new EIA Regulations also:

• Make provision for Local Development Orders to grant planning permission for Schedule 2 EIA development in certain circumstances;
• Allow Local Planning Authorities or Welsh Ministers to modify a planning permission; and
• Make provision to prevent Welsh Ministers from making or confirming a discontinuance order that is likely to have significant environmental effects, unless an ES has been prepared and taken in to account.

View NLPs experience with EIA here.