What is EIA?

Click here for summary of the EIA process related to golf development

The Environmental Assessment Directive is an EU Directive to all member states which provides a framework for the development of specific national legislation and regulation for anticipating and mitigating against the environmental and social impacts of any given development proposal.

Over recent years the majority of European countries have translated the Directive into national and regional planning law - establishing detailed regulatory processes and procedures for the application of Environmental Assessment for specific types of development project.

Although golf course development may not always by law require a full Environmental Impact Assessment (it depends on the specific criteria applied in different countries), it is increasingly apparent that more an more countries are using this tool to better predict and mitigate against any negative environmental impacts that could arise from golf projects. This is especially true when golf projects are increasingly linked to other forms of built development and real estate.

It is not always the case that a full EIA is required. The developer can request that their outline proposal is 'scoped' by the local planning authority. This involves the government setting out the key issues that it requires to have addressed. For example; for a small scale development proposal on intensively grazed grassland within a drinking water catchment, it may be that the need for detailed ecological survey is reduced, but more emphasis is given over to water quality issues. In cases like this it can be agreed with the local government to focus environmental surveys, evaluation, mitigation and enhancement proposals against priority issues. In this way, EIA can be flexible to the specific requirements of individual projects.

The key features of the EIA methodology are that it encourages developers and allows government planners to considers alternative locations master-plans for the project (to identify the best fit between proposal and environmental constraints/opportunities). It also allows for environmental information to influence planning and design, so that plans and designs are improved in light of environmental information that arises. This iterative process of design and evaluation is a key feature of EIA in ensuring that negative impacts are minimised and environmental enhancement opportunities maximised. As part of this EIA requires that significant environmental impacts be mitigated against. Often some forms of compensation are identified, such as the safeguard of other areas of land under conservation management. The process also involves the review of development plans by experts and planning consultees to ensure that stakeholders have an opportunity to have any concerns voiced and dealt with in a satisfactory way.

Environmental Assessment can be applied at a number of spatial scales. They can be undertaken for site specific project proposals, or increasingly are utilised in a more strategic way. The EU's Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive now requires all member states to evaluate local, regional and national development plans strategically to evaluate their collective environmental impact and to identify carrying capacities for different forms of development in given localities/regions. These are particularly useful in predicting the 'cumulative impact' of clusters of development. Such processes have been applied to golf development on a regional scale in Mauritius, The Red Sea and Catalonia. See section on Regional Strategic Studies.

Far from acting as a limitation to golf development, EIA should be embraced by the golf sector as a means to clearly set out the projects environmental enhancement measures, and to transparently deal with legitimate concerns over potential impacts. This process should be constructive, enabling solutions to be found, and actually improving the end product - ensuring its long term economic success based upon its social and environmental integration.