Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecological Impact Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a statutory requirement for many larger development, land-use change and infrastructure projects. Given its complexity regarding rules and procedures, we’re ideally placed to guide you safely through the process.
EIA is concerned with understanding any significant impacts from a project on population, human health, biodiversity, land, soil, water, air, climate, material assets, cultural heritage and landscape. A team of experts is required to undertake the EIA and Betts’ experienced, specialist involvement adds value with a focus on biodiversity and ecology; both as self-contained contributing studies and with respect to their interaction with other disciplines.
Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) is an important tool within the overarching EIA process. Our ecological scientists have experience in all stages of the EIA and contributing EcIA processes. This includes the screening opinion and scoping surveys, statutory consultations and data collection. Additionally, our experience covers the assessment of anticipated impacts; from mitigation and assessment of residual effects for significance to the Environmental Statement and Non-Technical Summary, not forgetting cumulative interactive aspects with other disciplines.
Working for you to achieve the right outcome
Betts works on behalf of clients, liaising directly with large multidisciplinary teams and their civil engineers, landscape architects, transport consultants, statutory and other consultees, planners and local authorities.
Our back catalogue of environmental impact assessment and ecological impact assessment experience comes from working on a variety of large projects including residential developments, motor racing tracks, flood alleviation schemes, leisure developments, power stations, energy decommission plants and river course engineering. Please contact us if you would like further information on past projects.
We collaborate with the EIA team to evolve and develop outcomes to meet the many nature conservation and ecological statutes, standards and policies. We work to meet the avoidance/mitigation/compensation hierarchy to ensure that there is no net loss and preferably, a net gain to biodiversity, so that ecological mitigation can be incorporated into the proposal.
A significant amount of our EIA/EcIA work involves negotiations with statutory third parties such as Natural England, Defra, the Environment Agency and planning authorities to ensure best practice and legal compliance so that, as the project advances, all concerns are addressed.
