Environmental statement - Planning validation requirements

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Planning document information

Description 

An environmental statement sets out your assessment of the likely environmental effects of your proposed development.  

You can find more information on environmental statements and impact assessments on GOV.UK. 

You can find out when you need to submit an environmental statement in schedules 1 and 2 of The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. 

You can find when you need to submit an environmental impact assessment in schedule 3 of The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. 

Guidance 

Screening opinion 

Before making an application, we recommend that you apply for a screening opinion to determine if your proposed development needs an environmental statement.  

A screening opinion will help you decide if your proposed development will have a significant impact on the environment. 

Normally, you get a screening opinion at an early stage of the design of your project. However, you can get a screening opinion at any stage of your application including after you have made an appeal. 

You can decide not to get a screening opinion and submit and environmental statement. 

If we think that your development needs an environmental impact assessment, we will ask you to submit a screening opinion. 

Scoping opinion 

If your screening opinion determines that an environmental statement is needed, you will need to get a scoping opinion. Your scoping opinion will determine the extent of issues that have to be considered by your environmental impact assessment.  

Your environment t statement, must fully cover the issues in your scoping opinion and environmental impact assessment. 

Environmental statement 

You can find out what you must include in your environment statement in schedule 4 The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. 

To make sure your environmental statement is valid, it must be prepared by competent experts. You must provide a statement showing the qualifications and expertise of the person who has prepared your environmental statement. 

The environmental statement you submit should include an executive summary and be clear, easy to read and jargon free. 

You need to submit four paper copies of your environmental statement and two electronic copies on CD or USB.  If a member of the public asks for a further copy of your environmental statement, we will ask them to contact you or your agent. You may make a reasonable charge for printing additional copies. 

We recommend that you speak to us about your environmental statement before you make your application. 

You can get help and advice from our Duty Planner on environmental statements and other types of planning applications. 

You can get detailed feedback on your proposal by using our pre-application advice service. 

Personal and confidential statement 

We may publish any information you submit as part of your application. You must tell us if there is any information you do not want us to publish when you submit your application.  

If however, we believe that this information is in the public interest, we reserve the right to publish it.  

We may also decide parts of your submission are not in the public interest and may redact this information. This information may include telephone numbers, email addresses and signatures. 

When you need to submit this information

Depending on the details of your proposed development, you may have to submit environmental statement when you are making an application for: 

If your application is for one of these types of planning permission, you can: 

Validation requirements

Required by 

These policies can be found in the Local Plan 2013 - 2033 document