Guernsey Environmental Legislation
Island Development (Guernsey) Laws, 1966-1990
Ancient Monuments and Protected Buildings (Guernsey) Law, 1967
Building (Guernsey) Law, 1956
The Land Planning & Development (Guernsey) Law, 2005
The 2005 Land Planning and Development Law has been passed by the States of Guernsey and received Royal Assent, but does not come into force until all relevant Ordinances have been passed. The series of Ordinances cover Plans, General Provisions, EIA (see section below), Use Classes, Appeals, Enforcement, Non-domestic Exemptions and Special Controls; the latter four still under consultation.
Land Planning and Development (Environmental Impact Assessment) Ordinance 2006 (draft)
Currently (April 2007) under consultation, this is one of the key ordinances that needs to be passed to allow the new Planning Law to come into force. This ordinance will introduce a statutory requirement for EIA in relation to the effects of certain developments and planning policies
. The Ordinance currently suggests that strategic EIA be carried out on any major plan policy relating to future island development where an EIA would be required (hypothetical examples given include an industrial estate, sewage works or golf course). Schedules detail developments requiring a full EIA (S.1), those which may require a full EIA at the discretion of the Government (S.2), and the matters that must be included within the Scoping Opinion, the Screening Opinion and Environmental Statements (S.3-6). The full text of the draft Ordinance is available through the States of Guernsey Government website: <http://www.gov.gg/ccm/environment/law-review-consultation.en>.
Biodiversity is covered particularly in Schedule 5.1 (d) iii, which requires an Environmental Statement to include:a suitable and sufficient assessment of the main significant effects which the development is likely to have on the environment including effects on population, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets (including the architectural and archaeological heritage) and landscape...
(emphasis added).
The effects of development policy on biodiversity are also considered in Schedule 6.1 (c):
an assessment of the likely significant environmental effects, including effects on population, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets (including the architectural and archaeological heritage) and landscape, of any development identified under item (b) or, if no such development is identified, of a typical development of the type envisaged in the policy...
(emphasis added).
(Draft) Schedule 1: developments requiring an EIA
- (a) a site for the disposal or processing of waste, including landfill sites, sites for the disposal of hazardous waste, for waste incineration or for the production of energy from waste, but, for the avoidance of doubt, excluding a small scale facility for the recycling or sorting of waste,
- (b) reservoirs for public water supply, waste water plants or sewage treatment plants,
- (c) installations for the storage of petroleum, petrochemical, chemical products or natural gas with a capacity of [x] tonnes or more,
- (d) sludge deposition sites,
- (e) quarries or the extraction of minerals by quarrying,
- (f) extraction of minerals by marine dredging,
- (g) reclamation of land from the sea,
- (h) marine power generation,
- (i) installations for the harnessing of wind power where the development involves the installation of more than 1 turbine,
- (j) installations for the slaughter of animals,
- (k) water management projects for agriculture, including irrigation, land drainage projects and the construction of reservoirs for agricultural purposes,
- (l) waste management projects for agriculture, including the construction of slurry stores,
- (m) storage of metals or vehicles for scrap,
- (n) golf courses, and
- (o) airport runways or any extension thereto.
(Draft) Schedule 2: developments that may require an EIA, depending on the opinion of the Government
- (a) any development project, not falling within Schedule 1, including any business parks or industrial estates or retail or leisure development, where the area of the development exceeds 1 hectare,
- (b) construction of roads, harbours and port installations,
- (c) works to provide new coastal and sea defences excluding those reconstructing existing defences in the same location,
- (d) any infrastructure project, not falling within Schedule 1 or any other item of this Schedule, which is of Island-wide significance,
- (e) any project on, or which may affect, a Ramsar site, and
- (f) any change or extension to any development of a description set out in
- (i) Schedule 1(except any change or extension which is expressly included in that Schedule), or
- (ii) paragraphs (a) to (e) of this Schedule,
- where planning permission has already been given for that development or that development has already been carried out or is being carried out, and the change or extension may have significant adverse effects on the environment.