Pickles slams "regulatory creep" of EU legislation in planning field

The Communities Secretary has attacked the “regulatory creep” of EU legislation, claiming that it has imposed expensive requirements on the planning system.

In a written ministerial statement Eric Pickles said the Government would consult next year on the application of thresholds for development going through the planning system in England, below which the environmental impact assessment (EIA) regime does not apply.

Publishing an explanatory memorandum on EU legislation on proposals to amend directive 2011/92/EU on EIAs, Pickles said: “Environmental impact assessments are a European Union requirement which impose significant costs on the planning system, over and above long-standing, domestic environmental safeguards in planning law.

“It has become apparent that some local planning authorities require detailed assessment of all environmental issues irrespective of whether EU directives actually require it; similarly, some developers do more than is actually necessary to avoid the possibility of more costly legal challenges which add delays and cost to the application process.”

The Communities Secretary said the aim of the consultation was to remove unnecessary provisions from regulations, and to help provide greater clarity and certainty on what EU law did and did not require.

Pickles pointed to an increasing number of directives which had implications for land use planning.

He listed a range of EU legislation in addition to the EIA directive which impacts, or may shortly impact, on the planning system such as the strategic environmental assessment directive, the flooding directive, the habitats directive, the wild birds directive, the waste framework directive, and the revised waste framework directive.

“The European Union does not have competence on land use planning, although it does have competence in relation to the environment but as is evident from that list, increasingly, its regulatory creep is imposing additional and expensive requirements on the planning system,” Pickles said.

He also expressed frustration that rulings from the European Court of Justice on the strategic environmental assessment directive had added “significant delay and complexity” for the UK Parliament to move ahead with the proposed abolition of regional spatial strategies.

The Communities Secretary claimed that the European Commission’s proposed amendments to the EIA directive “could result in a significant increase in regulation, add additional cost and delay to the planning system, and undermine existing permitted development rights”.

He also argued that the proposal appeared inconsistent with the conclusion of the October European Council that it was particularly important to reduce the overall regulatory burden at EU and national levels, with a specific focus on small and medium firms and micro-enterprises.

“This view was unanimous among all EU Heads of Government, who also agreed with the Commission’s commitment to exempt micro-enterprises from EU legislation,” he said.

The Communities Secretary called on MPs to examine carefully the latest proposed increase in EU regulation.