Regulation 25 requests for further environmental information

A regulation 25 request for further information is the point at which an environmental statement is found wanting, and it is the single most common cause of delay on environmental impact assessment schemes. Under regulation 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, where the authority takes the view that the environmental statement lacks information it is required to contain, it must notify the applicant, and the applicant must provide that further information before the application can be determined.

The consequence is not just extra work. The further information has to be publicised, consultees have to be given another opportunity to comment, and the determination period stretches accordingly.

When an authority can ask for more

The test is whether the environmental statement contains the information reasonably required to assess the likely significant effects of the development, judged against current knowledge and methods of assessment.

That is an objective test, but it is applied by an authority with statutory consultees in its ear. In practice a request follows one of three things: a consultee says it cannot assess an effect on the information provided, the authority's own technical adviser identifies a methodological gap, or a topic has been scoped out that the authority now thinks should have been scoped in.

A request is not a criticism of the applicant's consultants in every case. Baseline conditions change, guidance is updated mid-application, and a scheme amended during determination can generate effects the original assessment did not cover.

What a valid request must specify

The notification should identify what is missing and why it is required, with enough precision for the applicant to respond.

Push back on vague requests. "Further ecological information" is not a request an applicant can answer, and asking the authority to specify the receptor, the effect and the assessment method is reasonable rather than obstructive. Getting that specificity at the outset avoids a second request three months later.

Where the authority is relying on a consultee's comments, ask for those comments in full. The consultee's own wording usually identifies the gap more clearly than the authority's summary of it.

It is also worth distinguishing a regulation 25 request from an ordinary request for supporting information. Material volunteered by an applicant, or requested informally, is treated differently from formal further information, and the publicity requirements differ.

Publicity and the effect on the timetable

Further information must be publicised, and the Regulations require a further period for representations before the application is determined, which is not less than 30 days from the notice. The authority must also send the material to the statutory consultees.

The determination period for environmental impact assessment development is 16 weeks rather than the 13 weeks for other major development. A regulation 25 request made late in that period will almost always mean an agreed extension of time, and the honest approach is to agree a realistic one rather than a hopeful one.

Two programme points. Where the missing information depends on seasonal survey, such as bat emergence work between May and September or great crested newt survey in the spring window, the extension has to accommodate the season, not the drafting. And where the addendum leads to design changes, those changes may themselves need consultation.

Structuring the addendum

Write it so a case officer, a consultee and an objector can each find what they need.

1. Open with a short note explaining what was requested, by whom, and where in the addendum each point is answered, in a table cross referring to the original request.
2. Keep the chapter structure of the original environmental statement, adding new sections under the same headings rather than creating a parallel structure.
3. State clearly where a conclusion in the original statement has changed, and where it has not.
4. Update the non-technical summary. This is the document members and residents actually read, and an addendum that leaves it untouched invites the criticism that the changes have been buried.
5. Produce a consolidated environmental statement where the addendum is substantial, because a decision maker working across three separate documents is more likely to make an error that becomes a ground of challenge.

Keep the competent expert position clear as well. The Regulations require the environmental statement to be prepared by competent experts, and that applies to the further information too. An Environmental Impact Assessment is one of the report types where qualified professional input is legally required, and an AI-assisted draft is a starting point for those experts rather than a substitute for them.

Avoiding the request in the first place

Most regulation 25 requests are avoidable, and the avoidance work happens at scoping.

Request a formal scoping opinion rather than relying on an informal exchange. A scoping opinion under the Regulations binds the authority to the topics it identifies in a way that correspondence does not, and it records what has been scoped out with reasons.

Agree methodologies with the consultees before the assessment runs. Survey effort and seasons with the ecologist and Natural England, monitoring locations and periods with the environmental health officer, assessment years and committed development with the highway authority. Where those are agreed in writing at scoping, the later argument disappears.

Two further habits reduce risk. Assess the worst case within the parameters applied for, because an assessment tied to an illustrative masterplan leaves a gap when the parameters allow something larger. And where a topic is scoped out, explain the reasoning in the environmental statement itself rather than leaving it to a scoping report nobody reads.

Where transport is the topic at issue, an early scoping note agreed with the highway authority for the Transport Assessment removes one of the most common grounds for a request, because trip rates and assessment years are the inputs most often disputed.

What consultees do with the addendum

Statutory consultees are re-consulted and respond within their own periods. Expect them to check whether the addendum answers the point they raised, not whether it answers the authority's version of that point.

That is why the covering table matters. A consultee who can see their comment quoted and answered in one line is far more likely to withdraw an objection than one who has to search a 200 page document.

Where a consultee maintains its objection after the addendum, ask for a meeting rather than exchanging further documents. Most residual objections at this stage are about a small number of disputed assumptions, and they are usually resolvable in an hour.

One honest caution: an addendum that upgrades a conclusion from minor to major effect is not fatal, but it does change the planning balance. Say so plainly rather than presenting the change as a refinement. Decision makers notice.

Read the request, ask for the consultee comments in full, agree the extension of time, and build the survey seasons into it before agreeing a date. You can also check which reports an environmental impact assessment scheme typically needs when scoping the addendum.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Environmental impact assessment requires an environmental statement prepared by competent experts under the 2017 Regulations, so professional input is legally required. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.