Corporate slide master With guidelines for corporate presentations The draft Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Wales) Regulations 2012 Hywel Butts Development Management Branch Planning Division Welsh Government

Planning Division Five branches and a bill team Decisions Policy Plans Resources & Delivery Development Management Planning Bill Team

Issues Infraction EIA Regulation changes Case law Baker Mellor Smout Commission v Ireland Development categories Multi-stage consent & Local Development Orders Questions

Consulting on new regulations in Wales Other regulations within the United Kingdom – learning from experience Consolidated regulations UK response to case law changes – Baker, Mellor Issues in Wales – Smout case, Local Development Orders, Costs Obtaining views on the options available Three month consultation period starting end of March (subject to ministerial approval). Likely that new regulations in force in the summer.

Baker case – changes or extensions to existing development R (on the application of Baker) v Bath and North East Somerset Application of Annex II, development class 13 Schedule 2 of the 1999 regulations – application of screening thresholds Options 1.Change to guidance – EIA may be required below the threshold 2.Legislation enabling local planning authorities to screen development below the existing thresholds where possibility test of ‘likely significant effects’ will be met 3.Legislation requiring formal screening of all changes and extensions

Mellor case – Reasons for negative screening decisions European Commission pursuing the need to give reasons for not requiring EIA. European Court of Justice ruling – reasons not required to be issued but can be requested later under the Environmental Information Regulations Importance of retaining an audit trail Options 1.Reasons on request 2.Full reasons to accompany all screening decisions

Smout case – applying EIA to modification and discontinuance orders Smout v Welsh Ministers, Wrexham CBC, Cory Environmental Orders made under sections 97 and 102 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 where planning permission is granted Direct application of the EIA Directive Options 1.Developer prepare the environmental statement 2.Local planning authority prepare the environmental statement

Commission v Ireland – applying EIA to demolition ECJ case C-50/09 – EIA capable of applying to demolition Annex 1 and Annex 2 written in terms of an end use – demolition in its own right Save Britain’s Heritage v Secretary of State for CLG Parts of the Demolition direction quashed – More reliance on Permitted Development Order so demolition does not require planning permission EIA development cannot be permitted development Options Whether or not to introduce a separate class in Schedule 2 for demolition

Application of EIA to subsequent consents The ECJ ruled that EIA could apply to reserved matters applications - the Barker case. The UK planning system viewed as a ‘multi-stage consent procedure’ 2008 changes to the EIA regulations – ‘subsequent consents’ Still a requirement to deal with EIA primarily at outline stage but a requirement for full EIA publicity and environmental statement provision at each ‘subsequent application’ stage Options 1.Keep procedures as currently drafted 2.Reduce advertisement requirements at subsequent application stage where EIA previously undertaken 3.Remove automatic consultation requirements

Changes to development categories & other minor change Directive 2009/31/EC Geological storage of carbon dioxide – new categories in Schedules 1 and 2 Electricity transmission projects – Annex 3(b) cases that fall to the land use planning system for decision e.g. some sub- stations fall within the land use planning system Removal of criminal offence – Regulation 14(7) offence to provide a false certificate of publicity

Local Development Orders (LDOs) New Development Management Procedure Order (DMPO) to be made this month – introduces Local Development Orders Consultation on LDOs – LDOs will not be able to to provide consent for EIA development England have the provision to screen LDO’s where they provide consent for schedule 2 development is this required in Wales?

Costs of the EIA Process A draft regulatory impact assessment will be included in the consultation document. Comments are encouraged on whether the assumptions made are reasonable. Public Consultation Consultation documents will be available from the Welsh Government web site later this month – sign up for the consultation newsletter –

The draft Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Wales) Regulations 2012 Any Questions? Hywel Butts Development Management Branch Planning Division Welsh Government