Introduction Ever since the UK Government transposed changes to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 85/337/EEC into UK law, through the Town & Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations in 2017 (‘the EIA Regulations’), it has been necessary for developers to ensure that their environmental statements are prepared by ‘competent experts’. In particular, the EIA…
Schedule 4 of the EIA Regulations requires an applicant to provide an outline of the reasonable alternatives considered when developing proposals and an indication of the main reasons for the choices made, taking into account the environmental effects. In recent years, AM-P has led the EIA process in relation to a number of large-scale residential…
In accordance with Part 5, Regulation 18 and Schedule 3, an Environmental Statement (ES) should include the following, “a description of any features of the proposed development, or measures envisaged in order to avoid, prevent or reduce and, if possible, offset likely significant adverse effects on the environment.” These measures are generally regarded as ‘mitigation…
Warren Farm Sustainable Urban Extension – Chelmsford City Council Purpose of the project: The purpose of this project is to obtain an outline planning permission for a residential-led mixed-use development at Warren Farm, which is located on the western edge of Chelmsford. The proposed development consists of up to 880 new homes, primary school with…
Reducing Environmental Impacts When Coordinating Environmental Impacts Assessments (EIA) The current pandemic has pushed us all to better utilise online and digital technology. Our experiences over the past 18 months have shown us that previously accepted ways of working can be changed and improved through better utilisation of online and digital technology. In addition, even…
The effective management and coordination of what can be a multifaceted consultant team is key to the successful preparation and delivery of an Environmental Statement (ES). Depending on the nature of the project, such teams can be large in number, have a wide range of skills and knowledge and varying degrees of experience of EIA…
Introduction Some EIA practitioners can fall into a familiar cycle of describing baseline conditions, assessing adverse impacts, evaluating significance, identifying mitigation measures and then presenting the residual impacts of a scheme after mitigation. To a degree this ‘cycle’ may be encouraged by the common mitigation hierarchy now fully embedded in EIA practice and recognised in…
Introduction A hybrid planning application is one that seeks outline permission for one part and full permission for another part of the same site. Although their acceptance is entirely at the discretion of the local planning authority, they can be popular with developers who are seeking to secure a planning permission that both establishes the…