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.
See the statutory instruments that the government has laid:
The UK government has also laid a statutory instrument which
applies in Northern Ireland.
The negative parliamentary procedure is proposed for these
statutory instruments. Negative SIs do not need active approval
by Parliament. They will automatically come into effect as law
unless either House stops (annuls) them within a fixed period
after they have been laid (usually 40 sitting days).
The UK will leave the EU at 11pm on 29 March 2019.
