Legislation – Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025

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Part 1Infrastructure

Chapter 2Electricity infrastructure

Consents for electricity infrastructure in Scotland

25Environmental impact assessments for electricity works

(1)

The Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers may by regulations amend the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (S.S.I. 2017/101) (the “2017 Regulations”) by making provision described in subsection (2) in connection with environmental impact assessments and applications made to the Scottish Ministers for—

(a)

consent granted under section 36 or 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 (consent for construction etc of generating stations or for overhead lines), or

(b)

variation of consent granted under section 36 of that Act.

(2)

That provision is—

(a)

provision for the Scottish Ministers to refuse an application in respect of Schedule 2 development that is not accompanied by an EIA report if the development has not been the subject of a screening opinion;

(b)

provision for the Scottish Ministers to charge developers fees for screening opinions and scoping opinions;

(c)

provision about the sending of copies of EIA reports to the Scottish Ministers;

(d)

provision about the publication by developers of the information listed in regulation 14(2) of the 2017 Regulations (information about EIA reports);

(e)

provision about making EIA reports available for inspection;

(f)

provision about time limits for the consultation bodies and other public bodies to make representations to the Scottish Ministers about scoping opinions and EIA reports;

(g)

provision about time limits for the consultation bodies and other public bodies to enter into consultation with developers about, and to make available, information relevant to the preparation of EIA reports;

(h)

provision about time limits for developers to provide additional information to the Scottish Ministers;

(i)

provision about the publication by developers of the information listed in regulation 20(3) of the 2017 Regulations (information about additional information);

(j)

provision about making additional information available for inspection;

(k)

provision about the publication by developers of the information listed in regulation 23(2) of the 2017 Regulations (information about decisions);

(l)

provision that the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate for securing that the procedures under the 2017 Regulations operate effectively, or more effectively, alongside the procedures under regulations made under section 36C of the Electricity Act 1989 or paragraph 1A or 7B of Schedule 8 to that Act (inserted by section 19 of this Act).

(3)

The Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers may by regulations amend the 2017 Regulations by making provision described in subsection (4) in connection with environmental impact assessments and applications made to the Scottish Ministers for variation of consent granted under section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989.

(4)

That provision is—

(a)

provision requiring an environmental impact assessment in respect of the proposed variation to be carried out before Scottish Ministers—

(i)

vary the consent, or

(ii)

direct that planning permission is deemed to be granted under section 57(2) or (2ZA) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 in respect of EIA development;

(b)

provision requiring the Scottish Ministers to take the environmental information into account when carrying out an environmental impact assessment in respect of the proposed variation;

(c)

provision applying provisions of the 2017 Regulations (including provisions amended by regulations under subsection (1)), with or without modifications;

(d)

provision that the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate for securing that the procedures under the 2017 Regulations operate effectively, or more effectively, alongside the procedures under regulations made under section 37A of the Electricity Act 1989 (inserted by section 20 of this Act).

(5)

Regulations under this section may—

(a)

make different provision for different purposes or different areas;

(b)

make consequential or supplementary provision;

(c)

make transitional provision.

(6)

Regulations under this section made by the Secretary of State are to be made by statutory instrument.

(7)

A statutory instrument containing regulations made by the Secretary of State under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(8)

Before making regulations under this section, the Secretary of State must consult the Scottish Ministers.

(9)

For regulations under this section made by the Scottish Ministers, see section 27 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10) (Scottish statutory instruments).

(10)

Regulations made by the Scottish Ministers under this section are subject to the negative procedure (see section 28 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10)).

(11)

Before making regulations under this section, the Scottish Ministers must consult the Secretary of State.

(12)

In this section, subject to subsection (13), the following terms have the same meaning as they have in the 2017 Regulations—

“additional information”

“the consultation bodies”

“developer”

“EIA development”

“EIA report”

“environmental impact assessment”

“environmental information”

“Schedule 2 development”

“scoping opinion”

“screening opinion”.

(13)

In subsections (3) and (4), those terms have the same meaning in connection with applications for variation of consent granted under section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 as they have, in the 2017 Regulations, in connection with applications for variation of consent granted under section 36 of that Act.