Environment Protection: Planning
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's document entitled Environmental Outcomes Reports: a new approach to environmental assessment - government response, updated on 13 March 2026, whether he intends to incorporate Habitats Regulation assessments into the Environmental Outcomes Reports regime using powers under Section 164 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
Through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, the previous government secured powers to bring forward a new domestic framework to replace the current EIA and SEA environmental assessment regimes.
The purpose of Section 164 of that Act is to allow Environmental Outcomes Reports Regulations to manage interactions with existing environmental assessment legislation, including the Habitats Regulations.
Detailed arrangements for how Environmental Outcome Reports will operate will be set out in regulations and guidance. The government will consult on these draft regulations in due course following policy development and engagement with key stakeholders.
Until a new system is implemented, existing legislation on environmental assessment and its supporting guidance continues to apply.
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