§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many applications for consent they expect will be made during 2002 under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) (England) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3966); how many additional staff will be required to administer the regulations; and what is the amount included for this work in the relevant budget line of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget; and [HL2245]
Whether, under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) England Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3966), the selection criteria for the screening decision, the required information for inclusion in the environmental statements and the criteria used for consent decisions in each case will include and take account of any proposed loss of open country (and therefore access land) under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. [HL2246]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The resource requirements for implementing the regulations will depend on the number and types of applications for consent. Costs 175WA will be met from the overall funding available to the department, which remains to be allocated for 2002–03.
Schedule 1 to the regulations lists the criteria to be taken into account in deciding whether a project is likely to have significant environmental effects for which an environmental statement is required. Guidelines on applying these criteria, which are to be published shortly, list factors which will be taken into account, as appropriate, and include "any public rights of way or public access, commons or other open spaces used by the public". The required information for inclusion in the environmental statement, on which consent decisions will be based, will depend on the degree of significance of the various factors in individual cases.