What to submit with a request for a screening opinion
Screening answers one question: are material environmental effects likely. The request has four required components, and sensitive area status removes the threshold entirely.
An EIA screening opinion request is a short document with four defined components, and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2017 say what they are. A plan identifying the land, a description of the development and its location with regard to environmental sensitivity, a description of the aspects of the environment likely to be affected, and a description of the likely effects so far as information is available. Submit those four things properly and you usually get a negative opinion in three weeks. Submit a covering letter asserting that no effects will arise and you get either a request for more information or a positive opinion you did not want.
What screening decides
Screening answers one question. Is this development likely to have significant effects on the environment, such that an environmental statement is required?
It does not decide whether permission will be granted, whether the scheme is acceptable, or what mitigation is needed. A negative screening opinion simply confirms that the application proceeds without an environmental statement, and the authority still assesses every environmental topic through the normal supporting documents.
Two categories sit outside screening altogether. Schedule 1 development always requires assessment, so there is nothing to screen. Development not falling within any Schedule 2 description does not require screening either, which is the answer for most minor schemes.
The practical reason to request an opinion is certainty. An application that should have been screened and was not is vulnerable, and a negative opinion on file removes an argument an objector would otherwise make.
Finding the Schedule 2 category and threshold
Start with Schedule 2, which is a table. Column 1 describes classes of development and column 2 gives applicable thresholds and criteria.
The common categories for development schemes are infrastructure projects, including urban development projects, industrial estate development and permanent camp sites, along with the energy, extractive, food, chemical and waste headings. Urban development projects do most of the work in practice, and the threshold there is expressed in site area and floorspace terms with a separate figure for dwellings.
Read the column 1 description before the column 2 threshold. A scheme that does not fall within any description in column 1 is not Schedule 2 development, however large it is, and arguing about thresholds for a category that does not apply wastes three weeks.
Where a project spans two categories, screen against both. A mixed use scheme with an energy component is capable of falling within more than one description, and the authority will say so if you do not.
Sensitive areas change the test
This is the point most often missed. Schedule 2 development means development of a description in column 1 which either meets the applicable threshold in column 2 or is to be carried out in a sensitive area.
So in a sensitive area, the threshold does not have to be met at all. A small scheme that would be nowhere near the floorspace figure becomes Schedule 2 development simply because of where it is.
Sensitive areas are defined in the Regulations and include sites of special scientific interest, National Parks, National Landscapes, the Broads, World Heritage Sites, scheduled monuments and European sites. The definition is a closed list, so a conservation area is not a sensitive area for these purposes even though it is plainly a constraint.
Describe the location honestly in the request. Distance to each designation, what the designation is for, and the pathway by which an effect could occur. Other environmental constraints belong in the same section even where they are not sensitive areas, which is why a site in a groundwater catchment should set out its position in the same way as documents for a scheme in a Source Protection Zone would.
The information the request must contain
The Regulations set a minimum, and a good request goes slightly beyond it without turning into a draft environmental statement.
| Required component | What to include |
|---|---|
| Plan identifying the land | Site location plan with the red line, at a recognised scale |
| Description of the development | Physical characteristics, floorspace, unit numbers, heights, demolition works, construction period |
| Location and environmental sensitivity | Designations with distances, land use, water environment, existing receptors |
| Aspects of the environment affected | The topics in play, named |
| Likely effects | Residues, emissions, waste, use of soil, land, water and biodiversity, to the extent known |
Three additions earn their place. A short cumulative effects section naming other committed development nearby. A table running through the Schedule 3 selection criteria with a one-line response to each, because that is the framework the officer has to apply. And copies of any technical work already done, such as a preliminary ecological appraisal or a transport note, since the authority is entitled to take account of information it already holds.
Keep it proportionate. A request for an urban development project of 200 dwellings on a brownfield site sits comfortably in 10 to 15 pages plus appendices. Fifty pages of assessment invites the officer to conclude that the effects warrant a formal statement.
A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal is the single most useful attachment on greenfield sites, because biodiversity is the topic that most often tips a screening decision.
Timescales and the consequence of silence
The authority must adopt a screening opinion within three weeks of receiving the request, or within such longer period as is agreed in writing. It must give reasons for its opinion, whether positive or negative.
If the authority asks for further information, the clock effectively restarts on receipt of what it asked for, so an incomplete request costs more than three weeks.
Where the authority fails to adopt an opinion within the period, you can ask the Secretary of State for a screening direction. That is a real remedy and it is used, although it adds time of its own and it puts the decision in the hands of a body that has not seen the site. Agreeing a short extension with the case officer is usually the better move.
Build the three weeks into the programme as six. Requests submitted in December and over Easter take longer for ordinary reasons.
Mitigation, cumulative effects and salami slicing
Three traps recur.
Mitigation at screening is permissible only within limits. The courts have held that an authority can take proposed measures into account where they are plainly established and uncontroversial, but not where the effect depends on mitigation whose adequacy is itself the question. Offering a long list of mitigation in the screening request can therefore work against you, by signalling that effects of that scale would arise without it.
Cumulative effects have to be addressed. Other existing and approved development in the area forms part of the picture, and an authority that knows about a neighbouring consent will apply it even if your request does not mention it.
Project splitting is the third. Bringing forward a scheme in phases, each below the threshold, does not avoid assessment where the phases are in substance one project. Describe the whole project and screen it as a whole.
If the opinion is positive
A positive opinion means an environmental statement is required, and the programme changes materially.
Scoping is the next step and it is optional but almost always worth requesting, because an agreed scope controls cost. The determination period for EIA development is 16 weeks rather than the usual 13 for a major application, publicity requirements are wider, and the application cannot be validated without the statement.
An environmental statement must be prepared by competent experts, which the Regulations require expressly, and the applicant must provide a statement of the expertise used. An Environmental Impact Assessment draft from any automated tool is a starting point for those experts rather than a substitute for them, and professional input is legally required here rather than merely advisable.
The practical response to a positive opinion is sometimes to change the scheme. Reducing the site area or the floorspace below the threshold, where the project allows it, is a legitimate response, and re-screening a revised scheme is permitted.
The report types index shows which topic reports typically sit inside an environmental statement as technical chapters. Enter the postcode on PlanScope to see which designations sit over a site before the screening request is drafted.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
What information must a screening opinion request contain?
A plan identifying the land, a description of the development including its physical characteristics and any demolition, a description of the location with regard to the environmental sensitivity of areas likely to be affected, a description of the aspects of the environment likely to be affected, and a description of likely effects so far as information is available.
How long does the authority have to issue a screening opinion?
Three weeks from receipt of the request, or a longer period agreed in writing, and it must give reasons either way. If it asks for further information the clock effectively restarts, and if it fails to adopt an opinion at all you can request a screening direction from the Secretary of State.
Does being in a sensitive area change the threshold?
It removes it. Schedule 2 development means development of a description in column 1 that either meets the column 2 threshold or is carried out in a sensitive area, so a small scheme in a National Park, on an SSSI or in a World Heritage Site is Schedule 2 development whatever its size.
Can I rely on mitigation to get a negative screening opinion?
Only within limits. The courts have accepted that plainly established and uncontroversial measures can be taken into account, but not where the adequacy of the mitigation is itself the question. Listing extensive mitigation in a screening request can signal that effects of that scale would otherwise arise.
What changes if the screening opinion is positive?
An environmental statement becomes necessary, the determination period extends to 16 weeks, publicity requirements widen and the application cannot be validated without the statement. The Regulations require the statement to be prepared by competent experts, with a statement of the expertise used.
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.