Planning Environment
A new system of Environmental Outcomes Reports will replace the EU processes of Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment whilst retaining the UK’s obligations under the UN Aarhus and Espoo Conventions.
	The Act introduces an outcomes-based approach that will allow the government to set clear and tangible environmental outcomes which a plan or project is assessed against. This will allow decision-makers and local communities to clearly see where a plan or project is meeting these outcomes and what steps are being taken to avoid and mitigate any harm to the environment. These outcomes will be set following consultation and parliamentary scrutiny and will, for the first time, allow the government to reflect its environmental priorities directly in the decision-making process.
	By moving to an outcomes-based approach, and taking powers to address procedural issues with the current system, the Act provides the opportunity to go further for the environment and to turn passive assessment into a more active tool to support environmental regeneration.
	The Act places a new statutory duty on water companies in England to upgrade wastewater treatment works to the highest technically achievable levels for nutrient removal in designated catchments by 1 April 2030. Treating the achievement of the nutrient pollution standards as certain in a Habitats Regulations Assessment will mean lower levels of mitigation will be required from developers, reducing costs and enabling sustainable development.