NORTHERN Ireland’s high instance of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) concerning planning application is delaying development, hindering investment, and in some cases making companies think twice about locating in Northern Ireland, an expert has claimed.
As pressure to encourage business growth and help rebuild the economy increases, Matthew Sheppard, head of EIAs at UK planning consultancy Turley Associates, said the province produces more than four times as many EIAs as England, and more than twice as many as Scotland and Wales.
Mr Sheppard was speaking at an event run in Belfast by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) event in Belfast where he explained that research from the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) found that Northern Ireland produces 29.2 EIAs per million head of population, compared to 6.9 in England, 13.1 in Scotland and 13 in Wales.
An environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects.
The technical assessment documents, he said, had been central to delays over a decision on several major development projects, including Belfast City Airport.
While draft regulations currently propose closing a loophole which can be used to postpone public inquiries for long periods of time, he warned that the area remained ripe for potential legal challenges.
“The situation in Northern Ireland is very different to England,” he said.
“More EIA work is undertaken and slightly different legislation means that there are more opportunities for objectors to a development to frustrate the planning process and slow down necessary investment and economic growth.
“The risks of legal challenges will remain high even when the legislation changes, so it is important to make sure that these documents are both thorough and robust at the start of the process.”
Stressing that EIAs remained extremely important, he added: “Doing the necessary groundwork to safeguard against a potential challenge on purely technical grounds is important to ensure against unnecessary delay to important investment.”