The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive: A Plan for Success?

The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC) (SEA) has been a lurking legal presence in EU and UK environmental law.

Plainly of considerable significance in relation to strategic governmental plans and programmes, its practical implications are only now just beginning to be worked through. Legal challenges to decisions made even at the highest policy level are being brought on the back of the SEA Directive.

This book is a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Directive, from its history and scope, to its impact on governmental policy and its implications in practice. The book is both timely, in light of key cases such as Case C-567/10 Inter-Environnement Bruxelles (CJEU, 22 March 2012) and HS2, and forward-looking, as it considers and projects future legal implications of the SEA Directive.

Written by a blend of distinguished academics and leading practitioners it provides an in depth critique and rounded appreciation of both the immediate practical effects of SEA and its wider impact on European and UK environmental law.

Part I: Understanding the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive

1. The History and Context of the SEA Directive

Robert McCracken QC and Ned Westaway

2. The Transposition of the SEA Directive

Gregory Jones QC

3. Plans and Programmes Under the SEA Directive

Valerie Fogleman

4. The Meaning of 'Required by Legislative, Regulatory or Administrative Provisions'

Simon Ricketts and Juliet Munn

5. The Meaning of 'Early and Effective Opportunity' for Consultation

Stephen Ashworth and Rachael Herbert

6. The Role of Alternatives in the SEA Directive

David Elvin QC

7. From SA to SEA: Sustainability Appraisals and Strategic Environmental Assessment

Jack Connah and Stephanie Hall

Part II: Examining the Purpose and Impact of the SEA Directive

8. Blazing Upstream? Strategic Environmental Assessment as 'Hot' Law

Elizabeth Fisher

9. 'Streamlining' the SEA Process

William R Sheate

10. SEA and the Control of Government Environmental Policy

Eloise Scotford

Part III: SEA Beyond Town and Country Planning

11. SEA of Non-Town and Country Planning Plans or Programmes

Gregory Jones QC and David Graham

12. The Strategic Environmental Assessment and Water Framework Directives

William Howarth

13. Uncharted Waters: SEA in the UK Offshore Area

Richard Caddell

Part IV: The SEA Experience in Neighbouring Jurisdictions

14. Strategic Environmental Assessment in a Cold Climate: The Scottish Experience

Colin Reid and Denis Edwards

15. Any Seaport in a Storm: The Northern Ireland SEA Experience 3

William Orbinson QC

16. Strategic Environmental Assessment: The Irish Experience

Áine Ryall

17. Afterword: Aarhus and HS2

Richard Macrory and Gregory Jones QC