Environmental Impact Assessments were introduced in 1999 in order to comply with EU requirements. Until recently, developers would only be expected to prepare one EIA, which would be submitted with the application for full or outline planning permission. This was because the grant of full or outline planning consent was considered to be the point at which the proposed development was authorised. The important point was that any subsequent consents (eg approval of reserved matters under an outline consent, or approval of details) did not require a new EIA, since the principle of the development had already been authorised.

However, that approach was queried in Barker [2006] , the issue then being referred to the ECJ, who decided that development carried out under an outline planning consent should be viewed as a multi-stage project. Thus, a development will not be fully authorised until the developer has reserved matters approval, and perhaps even had conditions discharged. The result is that an EIA might have to be submitted with a reserved matters application, or even with an application to discharge certain conditions.

In response to that ECJ decision, we now have new amendments to the 1999 Regs to make UK planning law compatible with EU requirements. Developers will have to rethink when they need to submit an EIA; whereas previously they only needed to check whether an EIA was needed and, if so, submit one alongside the planning application, they will now need to decide whether they need to submit further EIAs at the same time as submitting applications for reserved matters (or applications for approval of details under a precommencement condition). The end result is that EIAs could now be needed where they previously would not have been required. [2008] 211 Property Law Journal 10. © Practical Lawyer