IEMA QMark Series

Next Steps in Ecological Impact Assessment

Steve Jackson-Matthews CEnv CIEEM MEECW October 2014

Overview of Presentation

• Overview of current approach• Reflecting emerging good practice• Common issues

• Ecological valuation• Matrices• Mitigation design and

confidence• Monitoring• Technical appendices

• Future challenges for EcIA• Update on developing CIEEM EcIA

guidance

Current Approach

Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM)

Guidelines for Ecological Impact in the United Kingdom (2006)

• Geographical framework to express sensitivity

• ‘significance’ of effect determined by impact on habitat/species integrity/viability

• Recommends against the use of matrices in order to better reflect ecological ‘grey areas’

• Requires mitigation based on established techniques (confidence)

Emerging Good Practice

• Revisions to EIA Regulations

• Focus on significant impacts• Biodiversity chapters

• CIEEM publications

• E.g. Preliminary Ecological Appraisals

• Emerging technical guidance

• increasing survey effort and interpretation

• ‘Planning Naturally’

• Developing better awareness and good practice in planning

Common Issues – Ecological Valuation

• Legislative framework vs common sense approach

• European protected species• Annex 1 habitats

• Defining appropriate geographic scales

• Region vs County (land mass)• District • Parish?!

• Consistency in approach across the industry

Common Issues – Matrices

Common Issues – Matrices

?

Common Issues – Mitigation

• Mitigation in EcIA

• Significant impacts• Confidence• Deliverability? • The use of CEMPs

• Does it work?

• LUC/NE project on transport mitigation

• Cost associated with failed mitigation?

• Who’s checking?

Common Issues – Monitoring

• Pressure on regulators and stakeholders – limited resources

• Environmental/Ecological Clerk of Works• Appropriately qualified and

experienced?• Understand the wider

implications of the construction process?

• How do we as an industry learn from failed mitigation?• Are we willing to admit failure?

Common Issues – Technical Appendices

• Enormous chapters are counter-productive• No one reads them!

• After LVIA, Ecology is often the largest chapter, sometimes extending to hundreds of pages

• We need to better understand the use of technical appendices and what the Chapter should be• Detailed desk studies• Detailed tech results (and

interpretation)• Impact assessment, with only

significant impacts in chapter

• Reflecting emerging good practice• Common issues

• Ecological valuation• Matrices• Mitigation design and

confidence• Monitoring• Technical appendices

• Future challenges for EcIA• Update on developing CIEEM EcIA

guidance

Future Challenges

• Reduced accountability

• Falling number of ecologists in LPAs

• Better self-regulation?

• Emerging guidance

• Biodiversity off-setting• Simplified planning process

• Improved understanding of mitigation success and implementation

• Environmental Clerk of Works• Database of mitigation?

• Who should be responsible?

CIEEM Good Practice Guidance

The 2006 document has been revised to ensure it is up to date with legislation, policy and practice across the whole of the UK and Ireland: 

• There are new sections on screening and Preliminary Ecological Appraisal.

• There is clarification of what is meant by ‘the baseline’ and clarification of cumulative impacts (and assessment of).

• It is made clear throughout that the overall objective must be no net loss of biodiversity.

• It has generally been updated throughout. There is a bigger section on Geographic Scales and scales of significance of effort

• The Impact Assessment chapter has been substantially re-ordered and text has been included to take account of the significance of residual effects.

Thanks for listening

Questions and comments to

steve.jackson-matthews@landuse.co.uk