Strategic assessment guidance to planners at odds with EC views
Guidance to English planning authorities on how to implement the 2001 EU Directive on environmental assessment in respect of land use and spatial plans was issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister at the end of October.1 The guidance is the first formal step towards implementation of the Directive in the UK - and it raises early concerns about whether the Government's perceptions of what is needed to comply are consistent with the European Commission's.