Planning Permission

Environmental Health covers the safety of people living or working in an area.

Any proposed development which could cause, for example, air pollution, unfit housing or unhygienic food preparation premises would be the concern of environmental health officers (EHOs).

Such developments may also require an 'Environmental Impact Assessment' to be submitted. Environmental health departments work alongside planning departments in most local authorities.

An Environmental Impact Assessment is a collection of detailed findings that is submitted alongside and to support a planning application.

The assessment is developed in order to consider the effects of a development on the environment. Its role is to provide local authorities with enough information about the environmental impact on an area for them to be able to make a decision on a planning application.

The local authority will work with an applicant to determine whether or not an assessment is required.

There are five stages to the Environmental Impact Assessment process:

• Screening - Working with the local authority to determine if an assessment is required
• Scoping - What information is to be included in the assessment
• Preparing - Preparing an environmental statement
• Applying - Submitting the application and assessment for public viewing
• Deciding - The local authority decides the application and makes the result public.

Find out about Environmental Impact Assessments from GOV.UK¹

1. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/environmental-impact-assessment