Mcgillivray, Donald (2011) Mitigation and screening for environmental assessment. Journal of Planning and Environment Law (12). pp. 1539-1559. ISSN 0307-4870

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Abstract

This article considers how, as a matter of law and policy, mitigation measures should be taken into account in determining whether a project will have significant environmental effects and therefore be subject to assessment under the EU Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive. This is not straightforward: it is problematic to distinguish clearly between an activity and the measures proposed to minimise or mitigate for the adverse consequences of the activity. The issue is a salient one in impact assessment law, but under-explored in the literature and handled with some difficulty by the courts. I argue that there is an unnecessarily and undesirably narrow approach currently taken under the EIA Directive, which could be improved upon by taking a more adaptive approach; alternatively a heightened standard of review of ‘significance’, and within this of the scope for mitigation measures to bring projects beneath the significance threshold, may also be desirable.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Comparative law; Environmental impact assessments; EU law; Mitigation; Planning authorities' powers and duties; Planning permission; Screening directions; Screening opinions; United States
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
Subjects:	K Law > KD Law of the United Kingdom and Ireland > KD0051 England and Wales K Law > KJ Europe
Depositing User:	Donald McGillivray
Date Deposited:	15 Jan 2013 10:08
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 19:54
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43456

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