KnowHOW Essential reading for commercial property professionals who need to be in the know NEW EIA REGULATIONS: INDUSTRIAL ESTATE SCREENING THRESHOLD CONFUSIONThe revised Town and Country Planning EIA Regulations entered into force on Tuesday 16 May 2017 (for further information read our KnowHOW available at http://createsend.com/t/y-F0A570435C7F6225.An amendment to the EIA Screening thresholds for industrial estate developments is now enforced by the revised Regulations. The 2011 EIA Regulations screening threshold for Schedule 2, Section 10 (a) ''Industrial Estate Development Project'' was 0.5 hectares; this threshold was increased to 5 hectares by the 2015 amendment to the EIA Regulations. The Government's intention by increasing the threshold was to reduce unnecessary screenings for projects which are unlikely to give rise to significant effects. Following the release of the 2017 regulations the threshold for when Industrial Estate Development should be screened to determine the requirement for EIA has been reduced back to 0.5 hectares. It is still not clear whether the change back to 0.5 hectares was intentional. HOW has liaised with the EIA policy lead from Institute of Environmental Management (IEMA) who has sought clarity from DCLG. HOW has been advised that it does not matter whether the change was intentional or not as it became law in England on the 16 May 2017 when the revised EIA Regulations came into force. Consequently, any industrial estate development projects over 0.5 hectares will be required to be screened for the requirement for EIA. This will increase the requirement for unnecessary screenings for smaller scale industrial developments and is at odds with the amendments made by Government in 2015 that would allow more industrial development to avoid the burden of screening and EIA. If you would like any EIA Screening advice or would like to discuss how the Regulation changes could impact upon a project, feel free to get in touch with HOW’s environmental team.
Jon Suckley Sam Oliver |