Glossary

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Alternative solutions
Are alternative ways of achieving the objectives of the project. They may include:
  • alternative locations that are suitable and available; or
  • different approaches in terms of: design, manufacturing or other processes; the use of different forms of transport or energy; different sources for the supply of materials etc.
Annex I Projects (Also referred to as Schedule 1 Projects)
See Schedule 1 Projects below.
Annex II Projects (Also referred to as Schedule 2 Projects)
See Schedule 2 Projects below.
Competent Authority
Is the authority which determines the application for a consent, permission, licence or other authorisation to proceed with a development. It is the authority that must consider the environmental information before granting any kind of authorisation. For example, for projects requiring planning permission this will usually be the Planning Authority, but in some cases may be the Scottish Ministers, for Woodland Grant Scheme applications it is the Forestry Authority, for marine fish farms it is the Crown Estate Commissioners etc.
Consultation bodies
Is any body specified in the relevant EIA Regulations which the Competent Authority must consult in respect of an Environmental Statement, and which also has a duty to provide information or advice during the EIA process. They are:
  1. any adjoining planning authority, where the development is likely to affect land in their area;
  2. Scottish Natural Heritage;
  3. the water and sewerage authority or authorities for the area in which the development is to take place;
  4. the Scottish Environment Protection Agency;
  5. the Health and Safety Executive;
  6. the Scottish Ministers.
Crown Land / The Crown
Is a generic term for land held by Her Majesty the Queen, as Monarch and certain other royal land and all Government held land, for example land held by the Ministry of Defence and land owned by the Scottish Ministers including prisons, Trunk Roads and Motorways.
Developer
For the purposes of this Handbook, to help make the text more readable, all project proposers are referred to as "developers”, whether or not their project constitutes development within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and whether or not the project is for public service or infrastructure or for commercial purposes.
Do-nothing comparison,
Or in some cases, such as road improvements, the "do-minimum" comparison, is a projection of the existing data to provide a baseline for comparison to show how the site would change if the project did not go ahead.
EEA State
A State which is a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993
EIA application
An application for planning permission for EIA development;
EIA development
Development which is either-
  1. Schedule 1 development; or
  2. Schedule 2 development likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location.
Enhancement / Net Benefit / New Benefit
In natural heritage terms, this is the genuine enhancement of the natural heritage interest of a site or area because adverse effects are limited in scope and scale, and the project includes improved management or new habitats or features, which are better than the prospective management, or the habitats or features present there now. There is, therefore, a net or new benefit to the natural heritage.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Is the whole process of gathering environmental information; describing a development or other project; predicting and describing the environmental effects of the project; defining ways of avoiding, reducing or compensating for these effects; consulting the general public and specific bodies with responsibilities for the environment; taking all of this information into account before deciding whether to allow the project to proceed and ensuring that the measures prescribed to avoid, reduce or compensate for environmental effects are implemented.
Environmental information
Is the information that must be taken into account by the decision maker (the Competent Authority) before granting any kind of authorisation in any case where the EIA process applies. It includes the environmental statement, including any further information, any representations made by any body required by the Regulations to be invited to make representations, and any representations duly made by any other person about the environmental effects of the development;
Environmental statement
Is the report normally produced by, or on behalf of, and at the expense of, the developer or project promoter which must be submitted with the application for whatever form of consent or other authorisation is required. It is only one component, albeit a very important one, of the environmental information that must be taken into account by the decision maker.
The EIASR 99 define it as a statement-
  1. that includes such of the information referred to in Part I of Schedule 4 as is reasonably required to assess the environmental effects of the development and which the applicant can, having regard in particular to current knowledge methods of assessment, reasonably be required to compile, but
  2. that includes at least the information referred to in Part II of Schedule 4;
Exempt development
Means development which comprises or forms part of a project serving national defence purposes or in respect of which the Scottish Ministers have made a direction under regulation 4(4);
Iterative
(A process) repeated until the best solution has been found so, in the context of EIA, it can be understood as the process of assessment and reassessment until the best environmental fit is achieved.
Mitigating measures or mitigation
Are the measures taken to avoid, reduce or remedy adverse impacts of the project. They are:
Avoidance
which is the measures taken to avoid any adverse impacts, including alternative or ‘do nothing’ options;
Reduction
which is the measures taken to reduce unavoidable adverse impacts of the project;
Remedy or Compensatory measures or compensation
which are other measures taken to (at least try to) offset or compensate for residual adverse effects which cannot be avoided or further reduced.
Revised Environmental Statement
Where a project has been modified since the original application and Environmental Statement were submitted, a revised Environmental Statement may be submitted, to amend the original, to ensure that the environmental information considered by the Competent Authority relates to the project as modified. The revised Environmental Statement may be a revision of the whole of the original document or revisions only of those parts of the original Environmental Statement that need to be changed as a result of the modifications.
Schedule 1 Projects
Are plans or projects are listed in Annex I of the Directive, as revised, and Schedule 1 of the Regulations, as revised.
Schedule 2 Projects
Are plans or projects which are listed in Schedule 2 of the Directive, as revised, and Schedule 2 of the Regulations, as revised.
Schedule 1 application and Schedule 2 application
Mean an application for planning permission for Schedule 1 development and Schedule 2 development respectively.
Schedule 1 development
Means development, other than exempt development, of a description mentioned in Schedule 1 of the EIASR 99
Schedule 2 development
Means development, other than exempt development, of a description mentioned in Column 1 of the table in Schedule 2 of the EIASR 99 where-
  1. any part of that development is to be carried out in a sensitive area; or
  2. any applicable threshold or criterion in the corresponding part of Column 2 of that table is respectively exceeded or met in relation to that development.
Scoping
Is the procedure whereby the Competent Authority and the relevant statutory and other consultees are consulted at the outset, or very early in the EIA process, by the developer to agree what effects should be covered in the Environmental Statement, how they should be covered and the methods to be used to assess them. If requested by the developer the Competent Authority must give a scoping opinion.
Screening
Is the process of deciding whether a particular project that is proposed is EIA development, and therefore subject to the EIA process. It involves checking whether the project falls within the classes of project in Schedules 1 or 2 of the Regulations (or Annexes I or II of the Directives) and if in Schedule 2, whether it would be likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Screening direction
Means a direction made by the Secretary of State as to whether development is EIA development
Screening opinion
Means a written statement of the opinion of the relevant planning authority as to whether development is EIA development
Sensitive area
Means any of the following-
  1. a Site of Special Scientific Interest;
  2. land to which S.23 of the nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 applies (Nature Conservation Areas);
  3. a World Heritage Site (UNESCO 1972);
  4. a schedule monument (Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979);
  5. a European site within the meaning of Reg 10 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (SPA or SAC);
  6. a National Scenic Area.
Statutory Consultee
Is any body specified in the relevant EIA Regulations which the Competent Authority must consult in respect of an Environmental Statement, and which also has a duty to provide information or advice during the EIA process. They are listed in Section E.2 of this Handbook.
Strategic Environmental Appraisal / Assessment (SEA)
Is the whole process of considering the environmental effects of plans, policies and proposed programmes of projects at a strategic level.
Supplementary Environmental Statement
Where the original Environmental Statement was incomplete or further work on environmental effects has been undertaken, (whether or not the project has been modified since the original application and Environmental Statement were submitted) a supplementary Environmental Statement may be submitted, to add to the original, to ensure that all of the relevant environmental information is considered by the Competent Authority. The supplementary Environmental Statement may include a revision of the whole or part of the original document or additions that are needed to cover the additional information.