EA in the UK after the EU artwork
50 Shades of Planning

EA in the UK after the EU

  • E39
  • 56:18
  • March 12th 2021

As a 50 Shades of Planning Podcast listener you will be perceptive enough to have spotted that the United Kingdom has left the European Union. Town Planners will have noted in so doing that the regulatory regime for the assessment of environmental impact within the UK’s planning processes has been at least heavily influenced by, and at most grown to mirror, the rules, regulations and judgements emanating from and handed down in Brussells and Strasbourg.

Environmental Assessment is on the Government’s ‘to do list’, though perhaps not very near the top. Environment Minister George Eustice said in July 2020 that a new consultation on changing our approach to environmental assessment and mitigation in the planning system would be launched that Autumn. It wasn’t, but when it does appear what will it herald for EA in the UK after the EU? Is Brexit a welcome opportunity to reset EA on to a more proportionate footing? Is Brexit an unwelcome threat to a well-established regulatory regime that could be exploited through gaps in an ever-evolving planning process? Might Brexit actually be both?

Sam Stafford puts these questions to Janice Morphet (Visiting Professor at UCL), Simon Ricketts (Partner at Town Legal LLP) and Lucy Wood (Director in the National Infrastructure & Environmental Planning Team at Barton Willmore).

Simon is on Twitter at @sricketts1 and Janice is @janicemorphet. Lucy wisely steers clear.

Some accompanying reading.

George Eustace’s speech on environmental recovery (July 2020).

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/george-eustice-speech-on-environmental-recovery-20-july-2020

‘Environmental Impact Assessment fit for the 21st Century’ by William Nicolle and Benedict McAleenan.

https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Planning-Anew.pdf

‘Brexit & Planning’ by Simon.

https://simonicity.com/2020/12/27/brexit-planning-an-update/

Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals by the Public Accounts Committee.

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/138912/time-is-running-out-government-must-move-on-from-aspirational-words-and-start-taking-the-hard-decisions/

‘Since I Left EU – The Future of Environmental Assessment’, a Town Legal Webinar.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/fBb38De_I4Yj_k3pdgTb-tU_ND_s0bmvcec2hWwWykytvXxfms3GzplB-ie0MyjUXIRcvgLdnUPizMlV.WMevhO6_9R0nDfLx?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=1ccFNtFCRsiD014UPCtfGQ.1611249256049.2050083b081ea8cc0a1284d86864b609&_x_zm_rhtaid=371

Some accompanying listening.

'Frogs, Toads and Newts' by Frits Wentink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJHCRDvlEos


50 Shades of Planning

Sam Stafford started posting on the 50 Shades of Planning blog in 2012 and in 2019 turned it into a podcast. 50 Shades of Planning is about the foibles of the English planning system and it's aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives.

50 Shades episodes include 'Hitting The High Notes', which is a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and for every project guests are invited to choose a piece of music that they were listening to at that time. Think Desert Island Discs, but for planners. If you would like to feature on 'Hitting The High Notes', or know somebody that would make a great guest, please email [email protected].

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford), and his blogs can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com.

As with the 50 Shades Blog, the 50 Shades Podcast is a platform for Sam's personal opinions, which may or may not represent the opinions of his past, present or future employers.

50 Shades of Planning is produced in association with Cavendish (www.cavendishconsulting.com).

The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._).

Why Fifty Shades? Well, planning is not a black and white endeavour. There are at least fifty shades in between...

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