§ Lord Gladwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to institute a public consultation on the implementation of the European Union Directives on Environmental Impact Assessments in the light of evidence of accelerated loss of England's grasslands to the plough. [HL2810]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)Council Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by 97/11/EC, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment has been implemented by the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 for projects which are "development" within the meaning in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The regulations came into force on 14 March 1999 following three public consultation papers in July 1997, December 1997 and July 1998. In England, the specific provisions of the directive relating to "uncultivated land or semi-natural areas" which do not constitute "development" fall to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to implement. 117WA MAFF has been working for some time with the statutory environmental agencies (Countryside Agency, English Nature, Environment Agency and English Heritage) to develop workable proposals which strike the right balance between protecting the environment and avoiding over-regulation. These proposals will be subject to public consultations in due course.