8 March 2006

Environment

Strategic Environmental Assessment

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on using his power under section 19(3) of the Planning and Development Act 2001 to draft regulations which would ensure that all major developments in a designated area of a local area plan be subjected to environmental impact assessments in accordance with Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations 2004 including those developments that had been considered in previous local area plans which pre-dated the strategic environmental assessment regulations 2004 and therefore were not subjected to environmental impact assessments.

Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Roche):

There is a distinction between environment impact assessment, EIA, which applies to individual projects, and strategic environmental assessment, SEA, which applies to plans and programmes forming the framework for development consent for projects liable to EIA.

Under part X of the Planning and Development Act 2000, major developments falling within project categories specified in Schedule 5 to the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 must be subjected to EIA, as part of the planning consent process. This applies to all scheduled projects, whether or not they are covered by the provisions of local area plans.

The Planning and Development (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Regulations 2004, apply to the preparation of development plans, local area plans and planning schemes in strategic development zones, or any variation thereof. In accordance with the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive 2001/42/EC, the 2004 regulations apply only to relevant plans, planning schemes and variations for which the first formal preparatory action is taken on or after 21 July 2004.

Section 19(3) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides for the prescribing, by regulations, of classes of area in respect of which local area plans should be prepared. I have no proposals to make such regulations.