Environmental impact assessment guidance
If your development is over 0.5ha in site area and/or could have
a significant impact on the environment, it may need an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under UK Planning and
Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.
In practice only a small number of major or
significant development projects will require an EIA. To find out
whether your project would require an EIA you should request a
Screening Opinion by contacting us.
If a major project does require an EIA, the
council recommends that an early and comprehensive EIA Scoping
exercise is carried out. The Scoping process should enable the
applicant to determine and agree the topics and level of detail to
be covered within the Environmental Statement (ES) and to highlight
the main concerns of the Council and other stakeholders at an early
stage in the process (ideally before, or at an early stage in the
process).
If done well, effective scoping will save the
council and the applicant both time and money after the application
has been submitted during the determination period.
To help, Tower Hamlets council has produced an
EIA
Scoping Guidance document (pdf 669kb), which:
- Explains what exactly scoping is, why it is useful to the
applicant, and how to go about it.
- Sets out the council’s preferred
approach to the scoping process and the assessment of
individual environmental topics.
- Provides topic based guidance on identifying the likely
key issues for developments within
Tower Hamlets.
If an EIA is required but you choose not follow the
advice contained within this Scoping Guidance, the reasons should
be discussed with the councils EIA Planning Officer before an EIA
Scoping Opinion is requested or an EIA Scoping Report is submitted
to the council.
The EIA Planning Officer can be contacted
here:
Development and Renewal
Mulberry Place (AH)
PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 1BY
Tel: 020 7364 5009
Fax: 020 7364 5415
Email:planningandbuilding@towerhamlets.gov.uk