Hold that Wrecking Ball!
The Court of Appeal has today ruled that demolition is a project within the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.
The case was brought by a heritage campaign group against the Secretary of State and the result of this judgement means that the existing Direction which exempts most buildings from the need to get planning permission for demolition risks breaching Environmental Impact Directives. As a result, nearly all demolition is now likely to require planning permission and in cases where demolition will have significant environmental effects, an environmental assessment may now be needed.
The ruling will have important and widespread implications with immediate effect. Existing planning permissions will need to be checked and planned demolitions and clearance of sites may now be delayed if consent for demolition needs to be obtained. This comes at a time when the Government only yesterday announced measures in their budget to improve the planning system to get the house building industry building again and steps to cut the amount of red tape for Councils and business.
