The government has published statutory instruments in relation to environmental assessments and the planning regime.
The government has today (24 October 2018) published statutory instruments in relation to environmental assessments and the planning regime.
These instruments make no substantive changes of policy, but when the UK leaves the European Union (EU) these instruments will ensure the continued smooth operation of the following regimes relating to the environment and the planning system:
Environmental Impact Assessment – which aims to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account at the development consent stage of the planning process
Strategic Environmental Assessment – which aims to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account at the strategic plan-making stage of the planning process
Hazardous Substances Regulations – these ensure that the objectives of preventing major accidents, and limiting the consequences of such accidents, are taken into account in land-use planning
These instruments also make a small number of amendments to other planning legislation, for example where there are references to obligations in EU law which are redundant or no longer appropriate.
The amendments in these instruments:
- will ensure that these regimes will continue to operate as they did before the date we leave the EU
- will not be retrospective, and so there will be no need to re-examine any decisions made before our EU exit purely as a result of these changes
We have also taken this opportunity to bring up to date some references to other legislation. Those provisions come into force on 31 December 2018. All other provisions come into force at the point the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March 2019.
Before these statutory instruments are formally laid in Parliament, they have to go through a sifting process. A new committee in the House of Commons and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee in the House of Lords will consider the suitability of the relevant procedure.
The UK government is committed to maintaining the highest environmental standards after we leave the EU, and will continue to uphold international obligations through multilateral environmental agreements.
