| Topic: | Re:No Environmental Impact Assessment Needed? | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 05/01/16 12:09:00 |
| Paul, to be honest this all became academic anyway as the EIA thresholds changed in early 2015 which meant that any scheme of over 150 units required an EIA regardless of the size of the site. Perceive it as you may, but it is a procedural requirement for an applicant to establish whether an EIA is required or not (in the same way as there was a further scoping request following the changes in the threshold mentioned above) and if so what that EIA needed to cover. At the time of my involvement the EIA regulations could, IMHO, be interpreted either way (due to contradictory national guidance) as to whether an EIA was required, and as it turned out my interpretation was wrong (it happens, I'm only human, we all live and learn). But what it most definitely wasn't was an attempt on either my part or my then client's part to "not give a toss about the environmental impact of the building" as any application of this magnitude was always going to need to comprise a vast array of reports from other specialists/consultants covering all kinds of environmental considerations - you can't be seriously suggesting that I was trying to circumvent the need for such ?. I sincerely hope you're not, because if you are I take that as a slur on my professional conduct. |