This is the slide deck from the EOR Webinar March 2023

1. March 2021 local.gov.uk/pas
Environmental Outcome Reports
Consultation Webinar 30th March
We will begin shortly

2. local.gov.uk/pas
This session
 Information giving
 Hear from DLUHC (Kim Harding)
 PAS work on environmental assessment so far (Shelly Rouse)
 Hear from two local authorities doing environmental
monitoring
 Dr Jessica Salder, Principal Environmental Assessment Officer,
Surrey County Council, and
 Lisa Kirby-Hawkes, Development Planning Manager at Hampshire
County Council

3. local.gov.uk/pas
Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
 Team of 13
 Part of Local Government family
 Funded by DLUHC and Defra to
support English planning authorities
“PAS exists to support local planning
authorities in providing effective and
efficient planning services and to
support the implementation of changes
in the planning system”

4. local.gov.uk/pas
What we do
 Training events and workshops
 Web-based resources and guidance
 Newsletter = 8000 recipients
 Official officer and councillor peer network
 Unofficial network of friends and advisors
 Brand new experimental learning networks:
 NSIP, environment, developer contributions, digital
 Also work with individual councils and offer ‘peer
challenge’ reviews
 Our work programme for 2022/23 includes design,
developer contributions, Local Plans, development
management designation and nutrient neutrality

5. Environmental Outcomes Reports: a new
approach to environmental assessment
Consultation and Q&A
Consultation closes
9 June 2023

6. • Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB)
seeks powers for a new framework for
environmental assessment.
• Royal Assent 2023.
• Consultation - initial thinking on how the
powers in the Bill could be used to deliver
a more streamlined and effective system.

7. • Environmental Assessment of
Plans and Programmes 2004
(‘SEA Regs’)
• TCPA (Environmental Impact
Assessment) Regs 2017
• Infrastructure Planning (NSIP)
(EIA) Regs 2017
• EIA (Agriculture) Regs 2006 (and
2017)
• EIA (Forestry) Regs 1999 (and
2017)
• EIA (Land Drainage
Improvement Works) Regs 1999
(and 2017)
• Water Resources (EIA) Regs
2003
• The Marine Works (EIA) Regs
2007/1518
• Harbours Act 1964, Schedule
3 (I)
• Highways Act 1980, Part VA
• The Transport and Works Act
1992, (sections 13A, 13B, 13C
and 13D)
• The Transport and Works
(Applications and Objections
Procedure) Rules 2006
• Electricity Works (EIA) Regs 2017
• Public Gas Transporter Pipe-Lines
Works (EIA) Regs 1999
• Pipe-line Works (EIA) Regs 2000
• Offshore Petroleum Production
and Pipelines (Assessment of
Environmental Effects) Regs 1999
• Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration,
Production, Unloading and
Storage (EIA) Regs 2020
• Nuclear Reactors (EIA for
Decommissioning) Regs 1999

8. What We Heard
… box-ticking exercise….
…. in case of legal challenge …..
…. it doesn’t actually add that much value as a lot of
the information would be done anyway…
…… I don’t actually read it myself ….
……the concept is good ……
…it doesn’t need to include the ‘human stuff’ as that is
already taken care of …..
….its the data …..
…would be good to know if our mitigation actually worked ….
…..if you could get it working as a design tool ?…..
…..don’t trust the findings …

9. An outcomes-based approach

10. An outcomes-based approach
o Secretary of State sets outcomes which a plan or
project will have to report against.
o High level
o Set in regulations with supporting suite of
indicators (in guidance).
o Stem from the Environment Improvement Plan
2023
o Be measurable (at the correct scale)
o Be monitored

11. Outcomes and Indicators
Possible outcomes
• Biodiversity
• Air quality
• Landscape and seascape
• Geodiversity, soil and sediment
• Noise and vibration
• Water
• Waste
• Cultural heritage and archaeology

12. Scoping
Options to improve scoping…..
Proportionate reporting against
outcomes ?
• Minimal assessment of the outcome in
circumstances where full assessment
not required?
• Rare that the core outcomes are not
relevant at all

13. The Report
Better alignment
between strategic and
project scale
• Standardised approach to assessment across spatial scales working
towards common set of outcomes
• Streamlined process, avoiding repetition
• Regular strategic/plan-level monitoring
Reports pinpoint
conclusions in technical
work
• Reduced size & complexity of reports through focus on outcomes
• Reports will pinpoint conclusions in underlying technical work
• Confidence levels for predictions and mitigations
Early assessment of
alternatives
• Design tool
• Reduce confusion around alternatives, ensuring assessed at an early
stage
• High level summary record of key dates in decision-making on
alternatives & application of mitigation hierarchy

14. When (Screening)
• Updated lists
• Proximity to a sensitive site
overwhelming reason for requiring an
environmental assessment?
• How to incorporate?

15. Mitigation
Avoid Mitigate Compensate
o Mitigation hierarchy now law
o Must be considered in assessment of
alternatives early in the process and
reviewed, as the plan or project
evolves.
o Issue of ineffective mitigation or
unanticipated effects of mitigation
o Should we use adaptive
management to allow mitigation to
be adjusted (up or down) in response
to greater certainty on effects
following implementation? http://lindtoons.com

16. Mainstreaming monitoring
o Everyone agrees key – some say most
important part of process
(given lack of data & nature & complexities of
implementing development)
o Bill gives powers to require assessments to be
properly monitored to ensure they are
delivering the level of environmental
protection predicted in the EOR.
o If the anticipated levels are not met and
remediation is necessary, it will be pursued
and enforced.

17. Unlocking data
o Bill bringing forward the digitisation of
planning services.
o Re-use data collected through monitoring to
inform future assessments.
o Environmental data will be standardised
(and submitted in a form that enables
future re-use).

18. Performance Reporting
o Government seeking to increase transparency on the effectiveness of
assessment.
o Reporting on performance will allow us to better address issues as
they emerge, amending guidance as required.
o Authorities to provide ‘annual consolidated information’ on how plans
are delivering on outcomes - related to existing monitoring duties

19. Next steps
User-centred process
design
•Using feedback from this
consultation, government will
develop and refine the system
through continued engagement
Secondary legislation and
guidance
•Secondary legislation brought
forward following Royal Assent
•Guidance will be brought
forward to support this
Transition
•A transition period will likely be
required – this will be as time-
limited as is reasonable
Capacity and capability
•The government will support and
work with authorities to ensure
they have the necessary
capabilities and skills

20. How to Respond
Please respond by completing the Citizen
Space online survey

21. March 2021 local.gov.uk/pas
Environmental Outcome Reports
PAS work 2022/23

22. local.gov.uk/pas
What have
PAS done this
year?
We held a workshop
series of five events.
Overview and 4 deep
dives
Over 80 LPAs took part
We set up an officer network
Transition is coming!
Environmental
Assessment bridge to
EOR
We made a report

23. local.gov.uk/pas
10 Key Challenges Identified
10 Key Challenges identified
There is an acknowledged lack of in-house technical expertise on environmental assessment.
The current policy regime generates significant amounts of paperwork and documentation
Inconsistency of approach in environmental assessment (both EIA assessment and SA/SEA) is a significant barrier in the current environmental assessment
regime.
The scope of environmental assessment has become too broad and there is a need to refocus on the implications of the land use.
The current environmental assessment regime contains an inherent element of uncertainty, and this sits at odds with other elements of the planning
system.
Subjectivity clouds the overall ethos of what environmental assessment is trying to achieve.
There is a significant lack of access to robust and consistent data
There is a fundamental knowledge gap between what environmental assessment does and is and what policy is and does.
There is a lack of monitoring of the forecast impacts or mitigation
Councils aren’t ready for digital assessments

24. local.gov.uk/pas
The big issue
The lack of in-house technical expertise in
councils and that all parties involved struggle with
capacity and skills. The lack of environmental
expertise within the public sector is creating a
more widespread problem - a lack of confidence for
planners to have autonomy on decision making.
Planners feel unable to properly interrogate
assessments, expert opinions, statutory consultee
responses or stakeholder views due to a lack of
confidence and experience in this field and
therefore fear of legal challenge so become overly
cautious in decision making.

25. local.gov.uk/pas
So much paperwork!
 The current policy regime generates significant amounts
of paperwork and documentation
 In a nutshell the complexity of process and documentation
inhibits engagement.
 Prevalence of cut and paste or ‘spot the other authority’s
name’
 Local members and communities do not engage with the
scoring and pages of plus/minus type analysis
 The voluminous nature of technical evidence submitted
means that officers have difficulty accessing the pertinent
information on predicted environmental effects

26. local.gov.uk/pas
We all do it slightly differently
 Inconsistency of approach in environmental assessment
(both EIA assessment and SA/SEA) is a significant barrier in
the current environmental assessment regime.
 Whilst assessments use common themes as headings (e.g.
air, water) there is significant variance in the indicators
and datasets used within assessments
 Assessment authors ‘doing their own thing’ and setting the
assessment frameworks in a multitude of formats.
 An increasing tendency to include a multitude of locally
distinct indicators

27. local.gov.uk/pas
Environmental Assessment is trying
to do too much
 The scope of environmental assessment has become too
broad and there is a need to refocus on the implications
of the land use.
 Tendency for EIA to cover all conceivable impacts even
where those effects would not be of a scale or type that
would warrant inclusion in the EIA
 Catch-all lists for the types of impacts (direct, indirect,
secondary, synergistic, cumulative, etc.) that might need
to be covered in EIA/SEA.
 How far upstream or downstream do you go?????

28. local.gov.uk/pas
Certainty versus uncertainty
 The current environmental assessment regime contains an
inherent element of uncertainty, and this sits at odds with
other elements of the planning system
 Lots of elements are crystal ball gazing and predicting effects
and appropriate mitigation. Whereas planning, particularly
through Local Plan examination, requires certainty of delivery
and outcomes
 Plans and development proposals have a desired outcome, so
the uncertainty of effects is turned from ‘cloudy’ to ‘crystal
clear’ to fit with certainty needed for plans and examinations.

29. local.gov.uk/pas
Inherent bias in the process
 Subjectivity clouds the overall ethos of what
environmental assessment is trying to achieve.
 There is a lack of in-house technical expertise in councils.
This leads to technical evidence or statutory consultee
views being unchallenged by officers and a reliance on
accepting it at face value.
 All technical assessments will involve a degree of
subjectivity, as professionals will often disagree over
methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation.
For LPAs the key issue is having access to suitability
competent professionals across the various disciplines
 We heard that even if officers wish to challenge the
validity of technical evidence or the data it uses they are
cautioned against challenging it by their legal teams.

30. local.gov.uk/pas
Lack of reliable data
 There is a significant lack of access to robust and
consistent data
 There is a need for data to be trustworthy and
transparent over who owns and manages it
 Significant lack of data read across between strategy and
project level
 Direct quote from a participant - ‘We need to step away
from relying on less robust data and accept the data
flaws. EOR has the potential to simplify and de-risk the
process for us so we can have better conversations’

31. local.gov.uk/pas
 There is a fundamental knowledge gap between what
environmental assessment does and is and what policy is and
does.
 Consultants, officers, legal professionals, members and
the public conflate the environmental assessment on
whether a scheme is acceptable versus whether the
scheme is acceptable in planning policy terms
 There is confusion as to the purpose of SEA within plan
making, which has largely arisen as a consequence of the
conflation of SEA into SA
 It is not universally understood that is not the job of SEA
or SA to generate options for the Local Plan
Conflating the purpose

32. local.gov.uk/pas
No feedback loop
 There is a lack of monitoring of the forecasted impacts
or mitigation
 Monitoring is not resourced and therefore
• At the project level - limited to reactionary monitoring
when complaints are received.
• At the strategic level – limited to wider monitoring of
the plan with aspirational indicators or the monitoring
effects at a very high level with no tangible link to the
SA/SEA predictions

33. local.gov.uk/pas
Councils aren’t ready for digital
assessments
 We heard that councils had been prevented from accepting
digitally based, non-PDF, environmental assessment
(EIA/ES/SEA/SA) due to corporate IT departments. This included
things such as interactive 360 view site surveys and hydrology
simulations for flooding extents.
 The principal barrier appeared to be a reluctance to accept a
non-PDF format from a corporate stance and that planning
departments and officers were frustrated by this.
 The objection to accepting new digital based formats was that
are not ‘uploadable’ or ‘submittable’ in the same way a PDF is and
therefore limited how the council could make the document
available to the public and meet accessibility requirements. The
issues of councils not wishing to accept a format that was
externally hosted was also raised.

34. local.gov.uk/pas
Speakers
Dr Jessica Salder, Principal
Environmental Assessment Officer,
Surrey County Council, and
Lisa Kirby-Hawkes, Development
Planning Manager at Hampshire
County Council

35. Environmental Impacts
and Outcomes
Monitoring and Adaptation
in Mineral Site Management
and Restoration
Dr Jessica Salder MIEnvSc MIEMA CEnv
Principal Environmental Assessment Officer

36. Environmental impacts of surface mineral working
Surface mineral working – e.g. extraction of sands, gravels, clays,
building stones, etc. – is typically associated with a range of
environmental impacts including (but not limited to):
Changes in landscape character, form and coverage – both temporary
and permanent, short and long term, operational and post-development.
Changes in ecology, including habitat and species loss, and loss of
ecological connection – both temporary and permanent, short and long
term, operational and post-development.
Changes in the water environment, affecting surface and ground water
quality and flood risk – both temporary and permanent, short and long
term, operational and post-development.
Changes in air quality, including emissions of dust from site operations
and traffic – temporary, short-term, operational.

37. Monitoring and managing ecology and landscape impacts
In the short to medium term site preparation and mineral extraction causes:
• Habitat loss and associated impacts on species. Translocation may be an option
for some animal species (e.g. Great crested newts, reptiles, etc.) but for most
animal and plant species the impacts will be adverse due to the fundamental
change in land cover and use. Where areas of key habitat - e.g. Ancient
woodland, veteran trees - are retained whilst the quarry is operational,
monitoring ensures that protective measures (e.g. canopy or root protection
zones, buffer zones, etc.) are implemented.
• Changes in landform, cover and character due to vegetation removal, soil
stripping, void creation, and the introduction of processing facilities, haul roads,
bunds, and other site infrastructure. Where bunds and/or planting are deployed
to mitigate operational visual impacts monitoring ensures that such measures
are effective.

38. Monitoring and managing ecology and landscape impacts
Restoration schemes set out long term visions for mineral sites. Schemes may
need to be amended in response to external factors over the project’s lifetime. The
MPAs restoration and enhancement specialists work with mineral operators to
monitor, evaluate, review and adapt restoration schemes as necessary.
Restoration of mineral sites can deliver:
• biodiversity gains – creating habitats that support a greater diversity of plant
and animal species than those present prior to mineral working, and providing
links between areas of habitat that have become isolated.
• landscape enhancement – infilling and regrading can deliver landforms and
features appropriate to the site and setting; planting schemes are designed to
respond and link to the landscape character of the wider area.
Landscape and ecology management plans form the basis for ongoing and longer-
term monitoring and management of restored mineral sites.

39. Monitoring and managing water environment impacts
Changes in water quality and flows arise during and after mineral extraction, on-
site and in the surrounding area.
• Groundwater flows are affected where sites are lined and infilled.
• Surface watercourses or waterbodies may require temporary or permanent
redirection or relocation, and unfilled voids can form new waterbodies.
• Process water, from washing and grading, with high silt content requires storage
in settlement ponds before release to the wider water environment.
• The site’s flood risk characteristics may change with implications for the
surrounding area.
Surface water and groundwater monitoring and assessment plans are used to
monitor operational impacts. Such plans are secured by condition, and include
trigger levels and plans for remedial action. For example, where maximum
excavation depths are specified to protect underlying groundwater resources
groundwater levels are monitored, breaches are reported to the MPA, the
maximum quarrying depth is altered as necessary, and areas of over-extraction are
backfilled with indigenous material.

40. Monitoring and managing dust
Dust emissions arise during site preparation and active quarrying – from soil
stripping, mineral extraction, mineral processing, vehicle movements on haul roads
and the highway network.
Dust management and action plans are used to monitor and manage operational
impacts. Monitoring and management are undertaken by the site operator.
• Mitigation can include: Wet working of extraction areas; Wetting of working and
processing areas, stockpiles and haul roads; Use of wheel-wash facilities and
sheeting of loads.
• Monitoring can include: On-site logging of rainfall, wind speed and wind direction;
Regular (e.g. quarterly, monthly, fortnightly, etc.) monitoring of dust deposition at
agreed locations around the site (e.g. residences, schools, community facilities,
etc.) against agreed action levels (e.g. monthly average deposition rate, annual
average concentration).
Regular monitoring by planners and complaints from neighbours also help identify
instances of non-compliance and enable corrective action to be taken.

41. Key messages:
• Monitoring requirements should be built
into planning permissions
• Monitoring of operational impacts is best
undertaken by site operators with MPA
oversight
• Restoration monitoring benefits from a
partnership approach involving MPA
specialists and site operators
• Effective restoration monitoring enables
adaptation to changes in site conditions or
wider circumstances

42. EOR Webinar 2023: PAS Support
Monitoring of environmental outcomes
for minerals development
A Minerals & Waste Planning Authority Perspective
30 March 2023
Lisa Kirby-Hawkes - Development Planning Manager

43. Role & how
we monitor
Delivering
environmental
outcomes
Case study
What we will cover

44. Role & how we monitor
Minerals and Waste Planning
Authority
Proactive monitoring /
enforcement function
Fee paying site visits for minerals
and landfills
Monitoring assisted by other
disciplines and agencies e.g.
ecology, landscape / EA etc

45. Delivering environmental
outcomes during & through
restoration
MPA Quarries & Nature 2021 … A
50 year success story - Complete
Show - YouTube
Environmental enhancement is
bread and butter for minerals
Long history of delivery both during
AND after development (restoration
/ aftercare)
Environmental impacts assessed
during application - frame
environmental outcomes
Importance of planning conditions /
legal agreements

46. Plumley Wood Quarry
https://planning.hants.gov.uk/Planning/Display/08/91952
Sand and gravel quarry with restoration to
agriculture, nature conservation and amenity
EIA development granted permission in 2008
Operational since 2009, end date 2025
Actively monitored - 4 visits per year Subject
to a site liaison panel

47. WORKING
PROGRAMME /
PHASING,
TIMESCALES
NOISE LIMITS,
TEMPORARY
NOISE, LIMITS,
VEHICLE
ALARMS
DUST
MONITORING
LIGHTING
SCHEME
CONVEYOR,
MUD ON ROAD,
ACCESS
CONDITION,
ACCESS
CHANGES
WORKING
DEPTH,
DEWATERING,
STORAGE OF
OILS / FUELS,
NEW SLUICE
Conditions
TREE
PROTECTION,
BUNDS, SOILS,
PLANTING,
WEED CONTROL
CLEARANCE,
SURVEYS,
REPTILE
TRANSLOCATIO
N,
HISTORIC
ENVIRONMENT
REPORT
RESTORATION /
AFTERCARE
PLAN,
SPECIFICATION
HOURS OF
WORKING,
WASH PLANT
CONDITION,
CONVEYOR
IMPORTATION
OF INERT,
RECYCLED
AGGREGATE
LEVELS
Plumley Wood Quarry

48. Plumley Wood Quarry
Legal agreement for
long-term nature
conservation
management and
mitigation, a new public
right of way, highway
contribution,
hydrological monitoring
and woodland
retention.
Subject to 50 year long term
nature conservation
management of Burnt Hill post
restoration / completion – 80
years!

49. Links to Blue Haze
heathland
restoration
Onsite
Heathland
restoration
Dormice corridor
Existing Farm
building

50. Plumley Wood Quarry
Other key features:
Reinstatement of Mire habitats
Active management / clearance
Management of historic environment
finds – kilns etc
Management of the diversions of the
ROW

51. Plumley Wood Quarry
Other key features (cont):
New application likely (end date)
– may look to amend phasing
and restoration reflecting
changes during life of the
development
Protection species e.g. bats, Dormice
(licence), reptiles (translocation)

52. Plumley Wood Quarry
Ensuring successful delivery:
Applicant provides annual reports and
quarterly hydrological monitoring
reports
Review undertaken other specialists
Working alongside other agencies
(e.g. EA)
Interaction with other disciplines (e.g.
OWCs)

53. Summary points
Minerals development already
delivers environmental outcomes
Importance of building outcomes
into permissions (effective
conditions / long term
management) – this is deliverable!
Partnership working is critical in
delivery
Effective monitoring is essential to
delivery – adaptation /
amendments may be required

54. Thank You
Lisa Kirby-Hawkes: Development Planning Manager
(Hampshire County Council) –
lisa.kirby.hawkes@hants.gov.uk

55. local.gov.uk/pas
What’s next?
Recording and slides available
PAS webpages on the research project
are already available
Future engagement some focussed on
LPA and some wider
Consultation closes 9th June

56. local.gov.uk/pas
Subscribe to our bulletin
www.local.gov.uk/pas
It is where we announce new materials and events.
See also @pas_team