EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations revoke the Offshore Electricity Development (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (“2008 Regulations”).
The 2008 Regulations impose procedural requirements in connection with the consideration of applications for consents under Article 39 or 40 of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 (“the 1992 Order”) (together referred to as relevant consents) insofar as they relate to offshore developments to ensure that those developments have environmental statements either where they are described in Schedule 1, or are described in Schedule 2 and are likely to have a significant effect on the environment by virtue of factors such as their nature, size and location.
The 2008 Regulations are concerned with the implementation in Northern Ireland of Council Directive 2011/92/EEC as amended by Council Directive 2014/52/EC of the European parliament and the Council on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private developments on the environment (“the Directive”).
The Directive is implemented in relation to relevant consents, insofar as they relate to offshore developments, by the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007, as amended by the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (amendment) Regulations 2011 which extended the regulated activity covered by those Regulations to include activities requiring the relevant consents in question. The 2008 Regulations are therefore no longer necessary to implement the Directive in relation to such activities.