The document discusses upcoming reforms to the UK planning system and environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. Key points include: - The government aims to speed up decision making and reduce duplication in EIA through simplifying and digitizing requirements. - Local authorities will have to update local plans by 2023 incorporating three new development zones - growth, renewal, and protected. - Further consultation on reforms to environmental assessments and mitigation in planning is expected in 2020. - Overall the reforms seek to streamline processes, increase housing development, and give local authorities more control over planning priorities while maintaining environmental standards. However, there is uncertainty around how some of these goals will be balanced in practice.

1. The future of EIA
Legislative & regulatory change

2. One major caveat
Uncertainty

3. What does the timeline look like?

4. What does the timeline look like?
• Initial planning policy paper came out in March just before the pandemic
• Separate white paper with solutions was meant to be in the spring, but came out in August, with a
consultation which is due to close tomorrow (29th October)
• This white paper/consultation has some discussion of EIA, but does not propose specific
changes to how/when EIA should be conducted
• There is expected to be a further consultation on environmental assessments and mitigation in
planning, which is expected in 2020, despite the pandemic
• These are all part of a wider housing strategy which is also expected to include: a Building safety
bill and Renters reform Bill, a social housing white paper, revisions to the National Planning Policy
Framework, and changes to housing need formula/delivery test formula – all of these wider
documents were due in 2020 but have been pushed back due to the pandemic
• All local authorities will need to have an up-to-date plan by the end of 2023 or the Government
will intervene – so by early 2024 designations will be in place everywhere
• The Government’s current view is looking forward to 2030: asking what will housing and land
markets look like by that point

5. Three designations

6. Three designations
• Three designations for different zones (growth, renewal, protected) determined locally
• Growth
• “Suitable for substantial development, and where outline approval for development would be automatically secured for forms and types of
development specified in the Local Plan”
• “This category would include land suitable for comprehensive development, including new settlements and urban extension sites, and
areas for redevelopment, such as former industrial sites or urban regeneration sites. It could also include proposals for sites such as those
around universities where there may be opportunities to create a cluster of growth focused businesses … Areas of flood risk would be
excluded from this category unless any risk can be fully mitigated”
• Renewal
• “This would cover existing built areas where smaller scale development is appropriate. It could include the gentle densification and infill
of residential areas, development in town centres, and development in rural areas … such as small sites within or on the edge of villages”
• “There would be a statutory presumption in favour of development being granted for the uses specified as being suitable in each area.”
• Protected
• “Development is restricted.” “This would include sites and areas which, as a result of their particular environmental and/or cultural
characteristics, would justify more stringent development controls to ensure sustainability. This would include areas such as Green Belt,
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), Conservation Areas, Local Wildlife Sites, areas of significant flood risk and important areas
of green space”
• “Some areas would be defined nationally, others locally on the basis of national policy, but all would be annotated in Local Plan maps”
All quotes are from the Planning for the Future White Paper, August 2020

7. What proposals are being discussed now?
SOME OF THE GOVERNMENT’S GOALS

8. What proposals are being discussed now?
• Environmental Impact Assessments
• Even though there are not full details, the Government wants any system to be “quicker and speed up decision-making and the
delivery of development projects. The environmental aspects … should be considered early in the process, and to clear timescales.
National and local level data, made available to authorities, communities and applicants in digital form, should make it easier to re-
use and update information and reduce the need for site-specific surveys”
• “Requirements for environmental assessment and mitigation need to be simpler to understand and consolidated in one place so far as
possible, so that the same impacts and opportunities do not need to be considered twice.”
• “Any new system will need to ensure that we take advantage of opportunities for environmental improvements while also meeting our
domestic and international obligations for environmental protection. This will be the subject of a separate and more detailed
consultation in the autumn
• Simplification of the system
• “The current frameworks … can lead to duplication of effort and overly-long reports which inhibit transparency and add unnecessary
delays”
• “Local Plans should be visual and map-based, standardised, based on the latest digital technology, and supported by a new standard
template … and limited to no more than setting out site- or area-specific parameters and opportunities.”
• “Local Plans should be subject to a single statutory “sustainable development” test, and unnecessary assessments and requirements that
cause delay and challenge in the current system should be abolished. This would mean replacing the existing tests of soundness,
updating requirements for assessments (including on the environment and viability) and abolishing the Duty to Cooperate.”
• More housing delivery
• “nationally determined, binding housing requirement that local planning authorities would have to deliver through their Local Plans.
This would be focused on areas where affordability pressure is highest to stop land supply being a barrier to enough homes being
built. We propose that this would factor in land constraints, including the Green Belt”

9. What proposals are being discussed now?
• Local control of priorities, zoning, and protections
• “strengthen protections that make the biggest difference to species, habitats and ecosystems of national importance, and that matter the
most to local communities”
• “Local Plans will be significantly shorter in length (we expect a reduction in size of at least two thirds), as they will no longer contain a
long list of “policies” of varying specificity – just a core set of standards and requirements for development.”
• “Expect design guidance and codes … to be prepared locally … and ensure that codes have real ‘bite’ by making them more binding on
planning decisions. Establish a new body to support the delivery of design codes.”
• Modernisation
• Digitisation of processes, automation where possible, improvements to enforcement, and a “comprehensive resources and skills
strategy” (though lacking clarity about how this will be resourced)
• ‘Beautiful’ design will be fast-tracked
• “introduction of a fast-track for beauty through changes to national policy and legislation, to automatically permit proposals for high-
quality developments where they reflect local character and preferences” (this is not expected to be a separate process and would
likely take the form of a ‘fast-track’ through the existing process)
• Attempts to maintain Environmental standards
• “Ensure the planning system supports our efforts to combat climate change and maximises environmental benefits, by ensuring the
National Planning Policy Framework targets those areas where a reformed planning system can most effectively address climate
change mitigation and adaptation and facilitate environmental improvements”
• All this must be viewed in context of other protections including Biodiversity Net Gain requirements and the Species Conservation
Strategies to be set by Natural England – Local Planning Authorities would need to have regard to the latter while executing their
duties, including when creating Local Plans, so species, habitats, and ecosystems would still have some level of protection even where
that doesn’t align with local priorities

10. What could this mean for the profession?
• EIA was not perfect before and some change might be welcome, but is the Government
approaching reform from the right perspective? Will these reforms create the best possible
version of EIA? What should the regulatory landscape of EIA look like in an ideal world?
• Based on what the Government is trying to achieve, and the first indications of their proposals,
what do we think reform will look like? Despite uncertainty, how can the profession adapt and
prepare for the future? What will EIA look like and what should the profession expect going
forwards?