Part 6: Environmental outcomes reports Power to require environmental outcomes reports Section 153: Environmental outcomes reports for relevant consents and relevant plans Effect
Subsection (1) allows the appropriate authority to make regulations requiring that an Environmental Outcomes Report is prepared as a requirement to proceed with relevant plans or grant consent to relevant projects.
	Subsection (2) sets the dual requirements that where an Environmental Outcomes Report is required, consent cannot be granted unless the Environmental Outcomes Report has been prepared (subsection (2)(a)) and that the Environmental Outcomes Report needs to be considered when determining whether a relevant consent is to be granted and the terms on which it is given (2(b)).
	Subsection (3) mirrors the dual preparation and consideration requirements of an Environmental Outcomes Report as outlined in subsection 2, but in respect of relevant plans.
	Subsection (4) sets the core requirements of what an Environmental Outcomes Report should contain. These build on the mandatory information required in the reporting stages of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (85/337/EEC) (Article 5 and Annex 4) and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (2001/42/EC) (Article 5 and Annex 1). Subsection (4)(a) captures the need of an Environmental Outcomes Report to demonstrate how the plan or consent would affect the delivery of specified environmental outcomes as defined in regulations. Subsection (4)(b) includes any proposals for increasing the extent to which an outcome is delivered. Subsection (4)(c) reflects that, in addition to providing an assessment of the extent to which the delivery of specified environmental outcomes is affected, an Environmental Outcomes Report must assess any steps proposed to avoid, mitigate or compensate (the mitigation hierarchy) effects relating to the delivery of a specified environmental outcome. Subsection (4)(d) provides that an Environmental Outcomes Report should include an assessment of how matters raised through assessment are monitored or secured.
Example: Failure to prepare an Environmental Outcomes Report
If, where a consent has been identified as a relevant consent in regulations, an Environmental Outcomes Report is not produced then consent could not be granted. Furthermore, if an Environmental Outcomes Report is required then the report needs to be considered before making a decision as to whether to the grant the consent or plan.
	Subsection (5)(a) captures the need to consider reasonable alternatives in reference to the steps outlined under subsection (4)(c) which relate to the relevant consent, the project that is the subject of the consent, or to any element of either. Subsection (5)(b) relates to reasonable alternatives in respect of a relevant plan or any element of it.
	Subsection (6) disapplies subsection (2) where consent is granted under section 154(4). This is to avoid the circular situation where the report would need to be taken into account in deciding whether to grant the consent, when it is the report itself that gives the consent.
	Subsection (7) lists the circumstances in which the appropriate authority can make regulations in respect of Environmental Outcomes Reports.
	Subsection (7)(a) provides a power to set out the form in which the relevant consent is to be given to constitute the issue of consent.
	Subsections (7)(b) and (c) allow the appropriate authority to make regulations to set what plans and consents require an Environmental Outcomes Report.
	Subsection (7)(d) allows the appropriate authority to make regulations to guard against duplication where the assessment of the impact on the delivery of a specified environmental outcome has already been adequately assessed in a different Environmental Outcomes Report.
Example: The requirement to produce an Environmental Outcomes Report
The use of this power is linked to the definition of "relevant plans" and "relevant consents" in section 154. The combined effect of these provisions will allow the appropriate authority to specify what consents and plans require an Environmental Outcomes Report. The use of this power is constrained by the commitment to non-regression and a duty to consult relevant public authorities but will allow the appropriate authority to set out which consents must produce an Environmental Outcomes Report ("category one consents") and which consents must produce an Environmental Outcomes Report if certain conditions are met ("category two consents"). Similarly, the appropriate authority will be able to set which plans require an Environmental Outcomes Report.
	Subsection (7)(e) enables the appropriate authority to specify the proposals that a report needs to deal with as set out in subsection (4)(b), (c) and (d).
	Subsection (7)(f) provides powers to enable appropriate authority to set out how assessments under subsection 4 should be carried out.
	Subsection (7)(g) enables the appropriate authority to set what information is to be included in an Environmental Outcomes Report. This also allows the appropriate authority to determine the content and form of an Environmental Outcomes Report. This subsection also allows the appropriate authority to make provision for additional matters to be provided in the Environmental Outcomes Report over and above those detailed in subsection (4).
Example: Form and content of information in an Environmental Outcomes Report
This power could be used to prescribe that certain information produced for the purpose of an Environmental Outcomes Report is produced in a consistent manner. For example, regulations could be used to set how a specific type of environmental data is presented for the purpose of the Environmental Outcomes Report.
	Subsection (7)(h) allows the appropriate authority to set the extent to which Environmental Outcomes Reports are to be taken into account when making decisions in relation to relevant consents and plans.
	Subsection (7)(i) allows the appropriate authority to make provision regarding how proposals should be carried out for the purposes of improving compliance with specified environmental outcomes as per subsection (4)(b), (c) and (d) (following the mitigation hierarchy), as well as the monitoring of those proposals.