Dr Bridget Durning

This paper sets out the response of the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), the UK Government’s Executive Agency responsible for the decision-making process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England, to the COVID-19 public health emergency in 2020.  Adopting a reflecting-in-action methodology, the paper focuses on how, during a national ‘lockdown’, PINS ‘pivoted’ the technology of public participation from in-person to virtual to ensure that the publics and wider stakeholders could continue to contribute to decision-making, despite restrictions imposed by the public health emergency.  It proffers an example of how the Government agency, through being adaptive and reflective, was able to continue the co-production participatory decision-making process for NSIPs. It also adds to the ongoing discussions regarding the evolution in digital/ online/ virtual engagement tools for future decision-making and emphasises these may need to be part of a ‘toolbox’ of approaches depending on the nature of proposed project and the wishes of those publics and stakeholders being invited to engage and participate in decision-making.

The article examines the nature of impacts of the rapidly growing Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) industry on tourism and recreation in coastal communities, especially in the UK. The multi-methods research approach includes reviews of literature, content of OWF Environmental Statements (ESs) for predicted impacts, recent practice for actual impacts, and the use of mitigation and enhancement measures. Findings from literature indicate that the overall impact on tourism appears relatively benign, and sometimes positive. The UK ES review identified tourism as an important topic, identifying mostly no/negligible predicted negative impacts, and some examples of predicted positive impacts. There is limited use of enhancement measures, including visitor centres and boat trips, and a previously under-reported use of developer community benefits funding for local area recreation and tourism facilities. Recommendations include early engagement with the community, developer long-term commitment to mitigation and enhancement measures, plus monitoring of tourism and recreation impacts over time.

The offshore wind farm (OWF) industry is of growing importance, particularly in Europe. However, the local socio-economic impacts of OWF projects have received little attention compared with biophysical impacts. Yet, they have the potential to be significant for the regeneration of declining coastal communities. Drawing on findings from academic and industry literature, from a review of ESs (Environmental Statements) for OWFs and from particular case studies, the paper found differential coverage of social and economic impacts, and differences between predicted and actual impacts, by stage in project life. For example, the ES predictions substantially overestimated local offshore construction stage economic impacts, but underestimated other elements of the OWF lifecycle, including onshore construction, and especially the 20-25 years of the operation and management stage. The Aberdeen (Scotland) case study showed the importance of the engagement strategy of the developer. Drawing on the major Hornsea projects, off the coast of Yorkshire (England), the research also highlighted the positive and cumulative impacts of scale and hub status, where a programme of large OWFs can have important local impacts. The research identified some factors leading to the identified outcomes, including the changing size and location of OWF projects, the relevant legislative and regulatory context behind the decision-making processes for OWF projects, and the responses and relationships of stakeholders involved in the process. The key role of monitoring impacts is an underpinning issue and a requirement for the more effective assessment of impacts.

Major projects, in sectors such as transport, energy, minerals and water, have long life cycles and can have significant local and regional environmental and socio-economic impacts. The impacts of the construction stage can be particularly damaging, if not managed well. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) seeks to anticipate such impacts, mitigate adverse and enhance positive impacts through design innovations and associated conditions. However, the approach is only as good as the implementation of such innovations and conditions. The issue of monitoring and auditing of actual, as against predicted, impacts is an Achilles heel in the planning and assessment process. Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear power station in the UK is currently one of the largest construction projects in Europe. A recent study of the live project provides a unique insight into the actual local impacts of the early construction years, and appropriate methods of assessment. It identifies KPIs, examines monitoring data, and audits findings against the predictions. The results show varying performance across key impact sectors. Explanations of differences are set out, together with recommendations for improving monitoring and auditing practice.

The tsunami which devastated Japan in 2011 highlighted the consequences of natural disasters on an area considered to be ‘best prepared’ for such an event.  Learning from the direct environmental, social and economic impacts and temporally and spatially displaced indirect global impacts, is important.  When seeking to identify and mitigate the impact of proposed developments the process is carried out from two distinct perspectives:’ before’ and ’after’ implementation with environmental impact assessment and environmental management the main ‘instruments’ on either side.  Drawing on examples from financial institutions and disaster response agencies, this paper explores the theory that coupling the two ‘instruments’ can aid disaster risk reduction and management.  It concludes that there is no simple answer and that further research is needed to inform practice.

Estimation of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) is becoming an established part of assessing sustainability within environmental impact assessment (EIA). However, a comparative study of 25 environmental impact statements (EISs) to analyse the practice of accounting for emissions during the EIA process suggests that consideration of the effects of development on emissions of GHG is poorly understood. The extent to which assessment is actually carried out is also inconsistent and sporadically implemented. A key indicator appears to be the varying and sometimes contradictory use of technical terminology, particularly of the term"carbon" and its similar phraseology. This paper provides a critical evaluation of the differing terminology that is applied to GHG assessments undertaken as part of EIA process and explores the effect that misuse of these terms could have on an impact EIS.

This paper explores knowledge development in professional planners in England, in both the public and private sectors. Through an exploration of how they engage and interact with a rapidly expanding knowledge base, the paper identifies how knowledge and expertise are developed that thereby inform their professional practice. It identifies the role, position in the career and level of expertise of the planner as influential to the drivers for knowledge development and the tools and techniques employed. It proposes that the level of expertise in professional planners should be seen as a spiral rather than a linear transition, and that the planning professional will move in and out of this spiral during their career in response to the changing demands of their professional practice. This paper adds to the body of academic work on the subject of practical knowledge development in planners, which is so far limited in the peer-reviewed literature.

This article presents an analysis of the perceptions of built environment academics in four post‐1992 universities in the UK on teaching/research relations. Whilst set in particular departments, institutions and disciplines, it addresses issues that are of central concern worldwide. This study indicates that securing effective teaching/research links is potentially vital for ensuring that students learn of the complexity of knowledge and develop high order academic and ‘professional’ skills. However, it also demonstrates how issues of department organisation and culture—in particular the effective policy separation between teaching and research—result in failures to support staff to achieve potential synergies between these activities. Evidence is also provided that, in built environment disciplines there are distinctive features of teaching/research relations that need to be considered in department policies (and national funding). This study questions the policies of those governments and institutions that in effect seek to separate teaching from research. However, it leaves uncertain the extent to which all staff need to be involved in high‐level research, or whether ‘scholarship’ is adequate to effectively underpin student learning in these disciplines.