Planning advice for businesses
An introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
EIA is a procedure that must be followed for certain types of development before they are granted development consent. The requirement for EIA comes from a European Directive (85/33/EEC as amended by 97/11/EC). The procedure requires the developer to compile an Environmental Statement (ES) describing the likely significant effects of the development on the environment and proposed mitigation measures.
The ES must be circulated to statutory consultation bodies and made available to the public for comment. Its contents, together with any comments, must be taken into account by the competent authority (e.g. local planning authority) before it may grant consent.
You can find more by going to the DCLG's Environmental Impact Assessment pages, which has information about:
- An introduction to environmental impact assessment
- Environmental impact assessment: guide to procedures
- Note on environmental impact assessment directive for local planning authorities
- Sources of information on EIA
