The EIA Directive was amended in 2014 to update it in line with some issues that have come to the forefront more recently in its 25 year existence. Those issues include climate change, resource efficiency, accident and disaster prevention and health. Additional changes were also made to secure delivery of monitoring and enforcement. If changes to
Read Entire ArticleEarlier this year the Local Plan Expert Group (LPEG) proposed that the Sustainability Appraisal process be reduced to a single report that assess the submitted plan. The LPEG was established by the Government to look at improving the efficiency and efficacy of local plan making. At present, Sustainability Appraisal runs in parallel to the Local
Read Entire ArticleThe Environment Agency has in the last month published new guidelines on how Climate Change should be considered in Flood Risk Assessments. Consideration of potential climate change impacts on river flow, rainfall, sea level rise and wave heights is important to ensure that development is prepared for future conditions, and that the people who live
Read Entire ArticleJohns Associates’ Planning and Environmental Appraisal team secured an exciting project win this month, having been awarded the contract to support Corsham Town Council in the production of their Neighbourhood Plan. Stage 1 of the process will involve laying the foundations for a successful plan through characterising the town as it is now through development
Read Entire ArticleJohns Associates’ water team strengthened its flood risk capabilities this month as Principal Consultant Tom Styles attended a two-day intensive training course to enable the full roll-out of improved drainage design calculation software on Johns Associates’ Flood Risk Assessments and drainage strategies. The new software is called ReFH2 and has been developed by the UK
Read Entire ArticleJohns Associates’ Planning and Environmental Appraisal team is celebrating two successful planning outcomes, supporting planning applications for solar farms for Good Energy. The team provided Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments, ecological assessments and arboricultural assessments for a 5MW solar farm in Dorset and for a (up to) 2MW solar farm in Cornwall. For the proposal
Read Entire ArticleThis week has seen environmental issues grabbing the headlines for a number of reasons. The talks in Paris are the latest attempts to thrash out a global deal to arrest greenhouse gas emissions, and the floods in Cumbria and elsewhere pose unanswerable questions around climate change, flood science, and investment of scarce financial resources.
Read Entire ArticleJohns Associates is working with the UK’s first 100% renewable energy supplier, Good Energy, to promote a proposal to co-locate solar panels on the site of the iconic Delabole wind farm, the UK’s first commercial on-shore wind farm. A planning application for a scheme with a capacity of up to 2MW has been submitted to
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