Screening and scoping sections of an Environmental Statement
Screening decides whether EIA applies. Scoping decides what the Environmental Statement must examine. Both are settled months before the document is written, and both constrain it.
EIA screening and scoping are two separate decisions taken before the Environmental Statement exists, and both of them constrain what the finished document is allowed to say. Screening decides whether an environmental impact assessment is required at all. Scoping decides which effects the assessment has to examine and by what method. Get either wrong and the Environmental Statement is vulnerable long after the fee has been spent.
They sit in the Environmental Statement as a short chapter, usually second, recording decisions made months earlier. That chapter is the audit trail for everything after it.
Why screening comes first
The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 make environmental impact assessment mandatory for some development and conditional for the rest. Until the screening question is answered, nobody knows which regime applies, what the determination period is, or whether the application can be validated as submitted.
The consequences are practical. EIA development carries a 16-week determination period rather than 13, different publicity requirements, and a requirement that the Environmental Statement be prepared by competent experts with a statement of their expertise. A scheme that should have been screened as EIA development and was not can have its permission challenged.
So screen early, screen in writing, and keep the reasoning.
Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 development
Schedule 1 lists development where EIA is always required: crude oil refineries, large thermal power stations, certain chemical installations, waste disposal installations above stated capacities and so on. Most planning applicants never touch Schedule 1.
Schedule 2 is where the work is. It lists categories of development, each with applicable thresholds and criteria in the second column, and EIA is required only where the development is likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location.
The category most residential and commercial developers meet is urban development projects. The applicable thresholds there capture development including more than 1 hectare of urban development that is not dwellinghouse development, more than 150 dwellings, or an overall site area exceeding 5 hectares. Exceeding a threshold does not mean EIA is required. It means the screening question has to be asked.
Sensitive areas change the arithmetic. Where a site is in or partly in a sensitive area as defined by the Regulations, which includes sites of special scientific interest, National Parks, the Broads, World Heritage Sites and scheduled monuments, the thresholds fall away and any Schedule 2 development in the relevant category must be screened.
Requesting a screening opinion
You can ask the local planning authority for a screening opinion before submitting an application. Supply a plan identifying the land, a description of the development and a description of the likely significant effects, together with any features proposed to avoid or prevent them.
The authority has three weeks to adopt an opinion, extendable by written agreement. If it fails to respond, or if you disagree with the outcome, a screening direction can be sought from the Secretary of State.
Two points worth knowing. First, the opinion must give reasons, whether it concludes that EIA is required or that it is not. A bare negative screening opinion without reasons is defective and that defect can be raised later. Second, mitigation can be taken into account at screening, but only where the measures are clearly established and certain to be delivered, which usually means they are inherent in the design rather than promised for later.
Selection criteria and significant effects
Schedule 3 sets the criteria that inform the screening judgement, grouped under three headings.
The characteristics of the development: its size and design, cumulation with other existing or approved development, use of natural resources, waste production, pollution and nuisances, and risk of major accidents or disasters.
The location of the development: the environmental sensitivity of the area, existing and approved land use, the relative abundance and regenerative capacity of natural resources, and the absorption capacity of the natural environment, with particular attention to designated sites, densely populated areas and landscapes of historic or cultural significance.
The types and characteristics of the potential impact: magnitude and spatial extent, nature, transboundary character, intensity and complexity, probability, expected onset, duration, frequency and reversibility, cumulation with other development, and the possibility of reducing the impact.
Cumulation is the criterion most often underplayed by applicants and most often raised by objectors. A scheme screened in isolation, on a site adjoining two other consented schemes, invites exactly that challenge.
Requesting a scoping opinion
Scoping is voluntary and worth doing on almost every EIA scheme. A request asks the authority for its opinion on the information to be included in the Environmental Statement, and the authority must consult the relevant consultation bodies before responding within five weeks.
The value is procedural as much as technical. Where a scoping opinion has been adopted, the Environmental Statement is based on it, which gives the applicant a defensible answer to a late request for an assessment nobody asked for at the right time.
Write the scoping request as a document that does the thinking, not as a question. Set out the proposed topic list, say which topics are scoped in and which are scoped out and why, and propose the assessment methodology, study area and baseline year for each topic scoped in. Include the significance criteria you intend to apply.
Scoping out is where the argument happens. Topics can be scoped out where significant effects are unlikely, and the justification has to be evidenced rather than asserted. An air quality chapter scoped out on a site adjoining an air quality management area will not survive consultation, and the Air Quality Assessment will be requested at validation instead.
Agreeing methodologies with consultees
The consultation bodies respond to the scoping request through the authority, and their comments carry weight beyond the scoping stage.
| Topic | Consultee whose method matters |
|---|---|
| Ecology and protected sites | Natural England, plus the county ecologist |
| Water and flood risk | Environment Agency and the lead local flood authority |
| Heritage and archaeology | Historic England and the county archaeologist |
| Transport | Local highway authority, National Highways where the strategic network is engaged |
| Air quality and noise | Environmental health at the local authority |
Agree the study area, the baseline survey period, the receptors and the significance criteria topic by topic. A landscape and visual chapter with viewpoints nobody agreed is the classic example of avoidable rework, and we have set out how that selection should be handled in a note on viewpoint selection for townscape and visual assessment. The same applies to a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment in a rural setting.
Where a consultee proposes a method you think is disproportionate, argue it at scoping. Arguing it after the assessment has been done reads as retrofitting.
Recording the outcome in the Environmental Statement
The screening and scoping chapter should contain the screening opinion or direction with its date and reference, the scoping request and the adopted opinion, a table listing every topic with its scoped in or out status and the reason, and a record of where each consultee comment has been addressed.
That last table is the one inspectors and officers actually use. It lets them check the finished document against what was agreed without reading all of it, and it is the fastest way to demonstrate that the assessment did what it said it would.
The Regulations require the Environmental Statement to be prepared by competent experts, and to include a statement outlining their relevant expertise or qualifications. That is a legal requirement rather than a courtesy, and it applies to the whole document. An Environmental Impact Assessment draft from PlanScope can structure the screening and scoping chapter and set out the topic table, but the assessment itself must be prepared by competent experts and the draft is a starting point for them rather than a substitute. The professional directory is the route to a reviewer.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.
This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a screening opinion take?
The local planning authority has three weeks from receipt of a valid request to adopt a screening opinion, extendable by written agreement. If it fails to respond or the applicant disagrees with the outcome, a screening direction can be sought from the Secretary of State. The opinion must give reasons whichever way it goes.
Does exceeding a Schedule 2 threshold mean EIA is required?
No. Exceeding an applicable threshold means the development falls to be screened. EIA is required only where the development is likely to have significant effects on the environment, judged against the selection criteria in Schedule 3 covering the characteristics of the development, its location and the nature of the potential impacts.
Can mitigation be taken into account at screening?
Yes, but only where the measures are clearly established and certain to be delivered. In practice that means features inherent in the design rather than measures promised for a later stage. Relying on uncertain mitigation to screen a scheme out is one of the more common grounds on which a screening decision is challenged.
Is a scoping opinion compulsory?
No, scoping is voluntary. It is worth requesting on almost every EIA scheme because the authority must consult the relevant bodies and respond within five weeks, and an adopted scoping opinion gives the applicant a defensible position against late requests for assessments that nobody raised at the right time.
Who has to write the Environmental Statement?
Competent experts. The 2017 Regulations require the Environmental Statement to be prepared by competent experts and to include a statement outlining their relevant expertise or qualifications. That is a legal requirement covering the whole document, not a recommendation, and it applies chapter by chapter across the technical topics.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.