Working with our leading Impact Assessment, Biodiversity and Natural Capital, and Climate Change and Energy practitioners and stakeholders, and led by our Impact Assessment Steering Group we have reviewed these wide-ranging proposals and found areas of synergy and support, as well as some key concerns and perceived weaknesses.
Some of the key highlights of our members’ recommendations and responses are:
- Impact assessments (EIA, SEA, SA, HIA, HRA) are essential tools for informed decision-making. IEMA advocates for the use of evidence-based practice to assess and manage environmental and social impacts to guide planning decisions.
- IEMA calls on the government to mandate the use of competent experts to lead these assessments. Furthermore, IEMA reaffirms its previous calls for the creation of a national environmental assessment unit to enhance EIA and SEA delivery and any reforms.
- IEMA supports the return of regional strategic planning to promote sustainable development through integrated decision-making that balances diverse land use needs, informed by strengthened and improved strategic environmental impact assessments.
- IEMA calls on the government to create more meaningful opportunities to improve public participation in the planning system and within the EIA, SEA and EOR process.
- IEMA calls for the NPPF to include health promotion in planning, leveraging long-term opportunities to embed measures that improve people’s health to the benefit of both society and the economy, and highlight co-benefits of more sustainable outcomes.
- IEMA advocates for a broader focus on soils, beyond land classification, recognising soils’ roles in provisioning, food security, flood management, biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
- IEMA cautions against punitive measures for local authorities failing to meet housing targets, as this can lead to speculative, low-quality development on unsustainable sites, harming communities, landscapes, and the environment. Instead, we request that consideration is given to prioritising revamping our towns and cities, building or refurbishing homes in
locations that are not car dependent and will revitalise communities.
The full details of our recommendations are provided within our consultation response.
Taking all the insights of our members into consideration, it is clear that there is broad support for the Government’s focus on a strategic, sustainable, and brownfield-first approach to development. However, there are still significant areas for improvement in the proposed NPPF reforms, which must be considered if we are to build healthy, climate-resilient, sustainable, and affordable homes and communities which also enhance the natural environment.
There are opportunities through these reforms, to significantly improve the lives and health of people and communities, for example by implementing differentiation between projects that address local health burdens and improve health from those that do not. There are also opportunities for sustainable growth, which support the environment, for example - through recognising the broader roles of soils in climate resilience, biodiversity and food security.
IEMA is dedicated to supporting policymakers to create policies based on expert knowledge and experience and we would welcome any further engagement with the Government on proposed reforms to the NPPF.
IEMA would like to thank all of the leading impact assessment, biodiversity and natural capital, and climate change and energy practitioners and stakeholders from our network of over 22,000 members who have participated and provided feedback to help develop the Institute’s consultation response.
To read the IEMA consultation response in full click here.
