Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Regulations 3(3), 7(3) and 7(6)

SCHEDULE 2 Thresholds for identification of projects likely to have significant effects on the environment

Interpretation

1.  For the purposes of this Schedule—

“sensitive areas” means—

(a)

land to which Article 14(1) of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (1)(in this paragraph the 1985 Order) applies (areas of outstanding natural beauty);

(b)

land notified under Article 28 of the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (2)(areas of special scientific interest);

(c)

a national park within the meaning of the 1985 Order;

(d)

a nature reserve within the meaning of the 1985 Order;

(e)

a property appearing on the World Heritage List kept under Article 11(2) of the 1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage(3);

(f)

a scheduled historic monument within the meaning of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(4);

(g)

a European site within the meaning of regulation 9 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(5);

“specified threshold” means any threshold specified in hectares in Column 2 or 3 of the Table in paragraph 2.

Thresholds

2.  Subject to paragraph 3, for the purposes of regulation 3(3), the threshold for any project of a type specified in an entry in Column 1 in the Table is the area (if any) specified in the corresponding entry in Column 2 or 3 of the Table, whichever is appropriate to the land covered, or proposed to be covered, by that project.

Table 1

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Type of Project	Threshold where any part of the land is in a sensitive area	Threshold where no part of the land is in a sensitive area
Afforestation	2 hectares where the sensitive area is a national park or an area of outstanding natural beauty. No threshold in the case of other sensitive areas.	5 hectares
Deforestation	0.5 hectares where the sensitive area is a national park or an area of outstanding natural beauty. No threshold in the case of other sensitive areas	1 hectare
Forest Road Works	No threshold	1 hectare
Forest Quarry Works	No threshold	1 hectare

Thresholds for extending projects

3.—(1) Where the project under consideration is an extending project—

(a) the threshold specified in the Table in paragraph 2 shall not apply; and

(b) the threshold applicable for that project for the purposes of regulation 3(3) shall be instead such balance (if any), in hectares, of the area specified in Column 2 or, as the case may be, Column 3 in that Table opposite the entry in Column 1 for that type of project as remains after deduction of the accumulated material past project area.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), it is immaterial whether any part of the accumulated material past project area is, or is not, in a sensitive area (or any kind of sensitive area).

(3) In this paragraph —

“extending project” means any project covering, or proposed to cover, land adjoining the area of one or more material past projects;

“material past project”, in relation to a particular extending project, means a project which —

(a)

is of the same type (as specified in regulation 3(2)) as that extending project; and

(b)

was completed after the coming into operation of these Regulations; and

(c)

was completed not more than five years before the proposed date for starting the work relating to that extending project;

“accumulated material past project area”, in relation to a particular extending project, means the total area covered by —

(d)

the material past project or, if more than one, all of them; and

(e)

every other project —

(i)

whose area adjoins the material past project, or one of them; and

(ii)

which satisfies conditions (a) to (c) in the definition of “material past project”.

Consideration of thresholds in other cases where a project adjoins or is near another project

4.—(1) The facts —

(a) that a project is or would be adjoining or, in the opinion of the Department, near another project of any type specified in regulation 3(2); and

(b) that, for any reason, the case in question does not fall within paragraph 3,

may be regarded by the Department as rendering the circumstances of that project exceptional for the purposes of regulation 7(3).

(2) This paragraph—

(a) shall not affect the application of those regulations in a case which does fall within paragraph 3; and

(b) shall not be interpreted as limiting the generality of the references in those regulations to circumstances which are, in the opinion of the Department, exceptional.

(1)

S.I. 1985/170 (N.I. 1)

(2)

S.I. 2002/3153 (N.I. 7)

(3)

See Command Paper 9424

(4)

S.I. 1995/1625 (N.I. 9)

(5)

S.R. 1995/380 as amended by S.R. 2004/435