Harbour Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1999/3445 |
| Year | 1999 |
1999 No. 3445
HARBOURS, DOCKS, PIERS AND FERRIES
The Harbour Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999
Made 21th December 1999
Laid before Parliament 11th January 2000
Coming into force 1st February 2000
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as regards England, the Secretary of State for Scotland as regards Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales as regards Wales, being Ministers designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to measures relating to the requirement for an assessment of the impact on the environment of projects likely to have significant effects on the environment, in exercise of the powers conferred by—
(a) that section, and
(b) as regards Scotland, that section and section 57 of the Scotland Act 19983,
and having taken into account the selection criteria (reproduced in Schedule 2 to these Regulations) specified in Annex III to Council Directive 85/337/EEC(on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment)4, as inserted by Council Directive 97/11/EC(amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC)5, hereby makes the following Regulations:
PART I
—GENERAL
Citation, commencement, revocations and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Harbour Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999, and shall come into force on 1st February 2000.
(2) Part II of these Regulations shall not apply in relation to an application or notice referred to in regulation 4(1) of the Harbour Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) (No. 2) Regulations 19896made or given prior to 1st February 2000.
(3) Part III of these Regulations shall not apply to an application for a harbour revision order or harbour empowerment order made prior to 1st February 2000.
(4) Except in relation to an application or notice referred to in paragraph (2) or an application for a harbour revision order or harbour empowerment order referred to in paragraph (3), the following Regulations are hereby revoked—
(a)
(a) the Harbour Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulation 19887,
(b)
(b) the Harbour Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) (No. 2) Regulations 1989,
(c)
(c) the Harbour Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) (Amendment) Regulations 19968.
(5) These Regulations shall not extend to Northern Ireland.
PART II
—APPLICATIONS RELATING TO HARBOUR WORKS
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the appropriate Authority” means—
(a) as regards harbour works relating to fishery harbours in England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;
(b) as regards harbour works relating to fishery harbours in Wales, the National Assembly for Wales;
(c) as regards any other harbour works in England or Wales, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions;
(d) as regards harbour works in Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;
“developer” means any person who proposes to carry out or who carries out harbour works;
“the Directive” means Council Directive 85/337/EECon the assessment of the effect of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC;
“EEA Agreement” means 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 19939;
“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;
“environmental statement” means a statement that includes such information of the descriptions referred to in Schedule 1 as is considered, in accordance with these Regulations, to be relevant to the proposed harbour works, but which includes at least the essential environmental information;
“essential environmental information” means—
(a) a description of the proposed harbour works comprising information on its site, design and size;
(b) a description of the measures which the applicant proposes to take in order to prevent, reduce or remedy significant adverse effects;
(c) data required to identify and assess the main effects which the proposed harbour works are likely to have on the environment;
(d) an outline of the main alternatives studied by the developer and an indication of the main reasons for his choice, taking into account the environmental effects; and
(e) a non-technical summary of the information mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d);
“fishery harbour” has the meaning assigned to it in section 21 of the Sea Fish Industry Act 195110;
“harbour” has the meaning assigned to it in section 57 of the Harbours Act 196411;
“harbour authority” means the harbour authority as defined in section 57 of the Harbours Act 1964 in relation to the harbour where the harbour works are proposed to be carried out;
“harbour works” means works involved in the construction of a harbour or in the making of modifications to an existing harbour;
“provisional order” has the meaning assigned to it in section 57 of the Harbours Act 1964;
“relevant project” means a project which would be likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location;
“selection criteria” means the criteria set out in Schedule 2;
“sensitive area” means any of the following—
(a) land notified under section 28(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 198112(areas of special scientific interest);
(b) land to which section 29(3) of that Act (nature conservation orders) applies;
(c) land declared to be a national nature reserve under section 35 of that Act;
(d) an area to which paragraph (u)(ii) in the table in article 10 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 199513applies;
(e) a National Park within the meaning of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 194914;
(f) the Broads within the meaning of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 198815;
(g) a property appearing on the World Heritage List kept under article 11(2) of the 1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage16;
(h) a scheduled monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 197917;
(i) an area of outstanding natural beauty designated by order under section 87 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (designation of areas of outstanding natural beauty);
(j) a European site within the meaning of regulation 10 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 199418;
(k) an area designated as a natural heritage area under section 6(2) of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 199119or as a national scenic area under section 262C of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 197220;
and subject thereto, expressions used which are also used in the Directive have the meaning which they bear in the Directive.
(2) For the purposes of this Part a person carries out harbour works if he carries out the whole or any part of such works or any operation in connection with or for the purposes of such works.
(3) Harbour works constituting a project which is of a description mentioned in Annex II to the Directive shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as not falling within that Annex unless—
(a)
(a) the area of the harbour works exceeds 1 hectare,
(b)
(b) any part of the harbour works is to be carried out in a sensitive area, or
(c)
(c) the appropriate Authority determines that the harbour works constituting the project shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as falling within that Annex.
Scope
3. This Part applies to harbour works below the low water mark of medium tides, being works which are—
(a) not subject to planning control pursuant to the Town and Country Planning Act 199021or the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 199722or pursuant to orders made in exercise of powers conferred by the said Acts;
(b) not specifically described in or authorised to be carried out by a harbour revision order made pursuant to section 14 of the Harbours Act 1964, a harbour empowerment order made pursuant to section 16 of the Harbours Act 1964 or by a provisional order;
(c) not specifically described in or authorised to be carried out by any enactment conferring powers to carry out works at a harbour;
(d) not authorised by an order under section 3 of the Transport and Works Act 199223;
(e) not the subject of a consent granted by the Crown Estate Commissioners under the Environmental Assessment (Salmon Farming in Marine Waters) Regulations 198824; and
(f) not the subject of a consent granted by the Crown Estate Commissioners under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Fish Farming in Marine Waters) Regulations 199925.
Procedure for obtaining a prior opinion
4.—(1) A person who is minded to make an application or give a notice of a description referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of regulation 5(1) may ask the appropriate Authority to state in writing its opinion—
(a)
(a) as to whether the application or notice would or would not relate in whole or in part to harbour works to which this Part applies; and
(b)
(b) if the appropriate Authority considers it would so relate and, assuming the criteria set out in paragraph (2) were satisfied, about the information to be supplied in the environmental statement.
(2) The criteria referred to in paragraph (1)(b) are that the proposed harbour works constitute a project falling within Annex I to the Directive, or within Annex II to the Directive and (taking into account the selection criteria) the appropriate Authority determines that they would be likely to constitute a relevant project.
(3) A request under paragraph (1) shall be accompanied by—
(a)
(a) a plan sufficient to identify the location of the...
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