UK agency and legislative context - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 57

3
UK agency and legislative context
3.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the legislative framework within which EIA is carried out in the
UK. It begins with an outline of the principal actors involved in EIA and in the associated
planning and development process. It follows with an overview of relevant regulations
and the types of project to which they apply, then of the EIA procedures required by the
T&CP (Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE)) Regulations 1988 and the 1999
amendments. These can be considered the “generic” EIA regulations, which apply to
most projects and provide a model for the other EIA regulations. The latter are then
summarized. Readers should refer to Chapter 8 for a discussion of the main effects and
limitations of the application of these regulations.
3.2 The principal actors
3.2.1 An overview
Any proposed major development has an underlying configuration of interests, strategies
and perspectives. But whatever the development, be it a motorway, a power station, a
reservoir or a forest, it is possible to divide those involved in the planning and
development process broadly into four main groups. These are:
1. the developers;
2. those directly or indirectly affected by or having an interest in the development;
3. the government and regulatory agencies;
4. various intermediaries (consultants, advocates, advisers) with an interest in the
interaction between the developer, the affected parties and the regulators (Figure 3.1).
An introduction to the range of “actors” involved is an important first step in
understanding the UK legislative framework for EIA.