Scoping for EcIAs

 

There are already a number of high-quality guidance documents associated with EcIA, including CIEEM’s Guidelines for Ecological Impact Assessment in the UK and Ireland and as such detailed guidance is not provided here.

However, a summary of the key outcomes of the EcIA scoping process are detailed here. It is important to ensure that all necessary information is collated at the scoping stage to enable these outcomes to be met:

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Key Outcomes taken from Guidelines for Ecological Impact Assessment in the UK and Ireland (CIEEM, 2018):

  • a description of the zone(s) of influence of the project

  • the identification of key ecological impacts which could be addressed through changes to project design, including consideration of alternatives

  • a list of the ecological features to be given detailed consideration in the EcIA and, in some cases, the specific impacts that will be considered in relation to each feature

  • a description of the surveys to be undertaken to provide the necessary data to inform the assessment, including methods and timings

  • a list of relevant ecological features that will not be given detailed consideration in the EcIA and a justification for their exclusion.