Environmental assessment: Consideration of thresholds and the BPEO

Thresholds are used in assisting planning authorities to reach decisions as to whether a project should be subject to a formal assessment of its environmental effects as required by EC law. Applicable laws make sure that the effects of a development project are assessed should there be a likelihood that they will have significant environmental effects. However, not all decisions are open to challenge. Nevertheless, in situations where issues become displeasing to some, the basis of a failure to follow procedural rules relating to environmental assessment are a useful tool for the person seeking to challenge. The law has been constructed to enable certain categories of development to escape an EIA should they fall within thresholds and criteria permitted to be adopted by the Member States as a result of the EIA Directive. There exist a possibility to ensure that the system as a whole does not become bogged down in challenges to each unpopular development decision on the basis of a failure to assess the likely impacts, provided that thresholds are not set at unreasonable levels.