Following on from previous articles in relation to Habitats Directive Appropriate Assessment (Article 6(3 & 4)), () the following information is provided in relation to common queries which arise frequently in discussion with clients and authorities. Please note this is our interpretation, and updated Guidelines are currently being prepared by the NPWS which will serve to further clarify matters later in the year.
- All development must be screened for Appropriate Assessment (i.e. whether it is likely to have an effect on an SAC or SPA).
- Screening does not, however, need to be an elaborate exercise and can be very brief, such as where the development is a distance from the Natura site or limited scale in nature. The guidance requires consideration to be given and a written record taken of the result.
- Screening for Appropriate Assessment may or may not be completed by a competent authority in-house. In practice, this varies from authority to authority.
- Screening for AA has a relatively light trigger (i.e. development with potential to effect designated sites should be screened in) but just because something is screened in as requiring an AA, does not automatically mean that it will have significant impacts or that mitigation and alternatives are not possible.
- The competent authority (e.g. the planning authority, in the case of planning applications) must conduct the final Appropriate Assessment, but this may be completed on the basis of information supplied by the applicant in the form of a Natura Impact Statement (NIS).
- Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs) are not covered by the Habitats Directive and therefore are not considered as part of Appropriate Assessment, however, in most County Development Plans, objectives are in place to protect these designations and an ecological assessment may be required where development is proposed in the vicinity of an NHA. NHAs are protected under the Wildlife Act.
- An EIS is not necessarily an Appropriate Assessment (as the AA should consider specific impacts on Natura sites, rather than the environment generally), although an Appropriate Assessment can form part of an EIS.
- It is likely that IROPI (4th stage of Appropriate Assessment process, where significant impacts are likely and development is for ‘imperative reasons of over-riding public interest’) will not be applicable to the majority of development in Ireland and highly unlikely to apply to private development.
- A limitation of the Appropriate Assessment process is that impacts on the environment or habitats outside the Natura 2000 site may not be given adequate consideration and that AA is now considered the ‘ecological report’ which would have previously encompassed a wider remit.
- For non-planning related plans or projects e.g. changes to operational procedures, different competent authorities apply (e.g. licensing authority, other government bodies).