EIA Screening and Scoping

Some larger or more sensitive developments have to be assessed for their environmental effects before permission can be granted. That process is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and it begins with two questions: does this project need an EIA at all, and, if it does, what must the assessment cover? The first is answered by EIA screening, the second by scoping.

Both sit within the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, which apply in England. Screening and scoping are procedural steps that frame the assessment; they do not grant permission and they are not the assessment itself.

What EIA screening decides

EIA screening decides whether a proposed development is “EIA development”, meaning whether it is likely to have significant effects on the environment and so needs an Environmental Statement. The Regulations split projects into two lists:

• Schedule 1 development: large-scale projects that always require EIA
• Schedule 2 development: projects that require EIA only if they are likely to have significant environmental effects, judged against the thresholds and criteria in the Regulations and the selection criteria in Schedule 3

Location matters, and it can override size completely. Where any part of a project of a type listed in Schedule 2 sits in a “sensitive area”, such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a National Park, a National Landscape (formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a World Heritage Site or a scheduled monument, the size thresholds do not screen it out at all. It counts as Schedule 2 development however small it is, and it has to be screened. That does not automatically mean an EIA is required, only that the authority has to make the decision rather than skip it.

How to get an EIA screening opinion

You can ask the local planning authority for a screening opinion before you apply, so you know where you stand. If you submit an application without an Environmental Statement and no opinion has been given, the authority can adopt one itself.

The authority has three weeks to adopt its screening opinion, measured from the date it received the request or the date the application was made valid, unless a longer period is agreed in writing. The opinion goes on a public register and stays there for two years. If the authority decides an EIA is required and you disagree, or it fails to respond, you can ask the Secretary of State for a screening direction.

The scoping opinion

Where a project is EIA development, you can ask the authority for a scoping opinion, which is its written view on the scope and level of detail the Environmental Statement should contain. Scoping is optional, but it is usually worth doing: it pins down what the authority expects, so the assessment concentrates on the effects that matter rather than everything conceivable.

The authority has five weeks to adopt a scoping opinion, again extendable by written agreement, and must consult the statutory bodies, typically the Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England, before doing so. As with screening, if you are dissatisfied you can request a scoping direction from the Secretary of State.

Note that a screening or scoping opinion is not a decision you can appeal. There is no route to the Planning Inspectorate here, and asking the Secretary of State for a direction is the only challenge available. A planning appeal only becomes relevant once the application itself is refused. Fees are a separate matter again, so see our guide to planning fees, and note that an application requiring an EIA gives the council 16 weeks to determine it rather than the usual 8 or 13.

What the Environmental Statement must do

If EIA is required, the application must be accompanied by an Environmental Statement. It has to identify, describe and assess the likely significant direct and indirect effects of the development on the environment, and it must be prepared by competent experts. Depending on the likely effects, its topic work may include a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) and an Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA). Both can also be relevant as stand-alone planning evidence where a project is not EIA development. The 2017 Regulations deliberately push towards shorter, more focused statements, because only significant effects need be assessed, which is precisely what scoping helps to establish.

Berkeley: EIA is a procedure, not just information

Berkeley v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [2000] UKHL 36; [2001] 2 AC 603 remains an important warning about treating EIA as a paperwork exercise. The case concerned an earlier version of the EIA regime, but the House of Lords stressed that the purpose was not merely to ensure that a decision-maker happened to possess enough environmental information.

The prescribed process mattered. The developer was required to provide an Environmental Statement in the proper form, that material had to be made available to the public, and the public had to have the opportunity to comment on the environmental effects before the decision was made. Detailed reports, consultation responses and evidence scattered through other documents could not simply be assembled afterwards and treated as an equivalent Environmental Statement. Lord Hoffmann described that approach as a “paper chase”.

The planning permission was quashed. It was not an answer that the same permission might have been granted if the correct procedure had been followed. Although the legal framework has changed since Berkeley, the case remains a useful reminder that where EIA is legally required, compliance with the assessment and participation procedure is a substantive part of lawful decision-making rather than a technical box to be ticked.

Reform on the horizon: Environmental Outcomes Reports

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 created a framework to replace EIA (and strategic environmental assessment) with a new system of Environmental Outcomes Reports. That system is not yet in force, because it depends on secondary legislation still to be made, so at the time of writing the 2017 EIA Regulations continue to apply in full. The government confirmed in March 2026 that it aims to have the new system in place by the end of 2027. It is worth watching, but it does not change how screening and scoping work today.

Practical points

• a screening request costs nothing and gives you certainty early, and it is usually worth making before committing to an application
• a screening opinion that no EIA is required removes the need for an Environmental Statement, though the authority can still request environmental information under the ordinary application rules
• screening looks at the project as a whole, including cumulative effects with other development, so you cannot avoid EIA by splitting a scheme into smaller parts
• a parallel screening and scoping framework applies to nationally significant infrastructure, but under a separate set of regulations; the Beacon Fen Energy Park DCO is a current 400MW solar and battery-storage example

See also our guide to the types of planning application.

Relevant legislation

Planning law changes often. You can check the current wording of the legislation below on the official legislation.gov.uk website. The “Changes to Legislation” panel on each item flags anything not yet applied to the published text:

• The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 – the EIA framework for England
• Regulation 6 – requesting a screening opinion
• Regulation 15 – scoping opinions
• Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 – the framework for Environmental Outcomes Reports (not yet in force)

Other Planning Application Sections

EIA Screening and scoping Page Updated: 30th August 2026