The Return of Environmental Outcomes Reports – and other news

Just when you think it is safe to step away from the MHCLG website…. they sneak out an announcement that EIA reform is still very much on the agenda!

This was not intended to be a blog about Environmental Outcome Reports. It was meant to be a recap of last week’s avalanche of statutory instruments, with some cases thrown in for good measure.

However, life is full of endless surprises and so I am going to attempt to do both.

This might be quite a long read. Sorry.

Environmental Outcomes Reports: Roadmap to reform

Let’s start with MHCLG’s Friday surprise – the sudden and unexpected return of EIA reform. To be more specific, confirmation of the government’s intention to fully implement and introduce Environmental Outcomes Reports.

Before we get into today’s announcement, a quick history lesson might be in order.

Environmental Outcomes Reports are a creation of the last conservative administration. The intention was to replace the current, paper-heavy and somewhat process driven, approach to assessing the environmental impacts of a development with something more agile, targeted and outcomes focused – hence the name.

The legal framework for EORs was introduced in Part 6 of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023. Whilst the primary legislation was brought into force on 26 December 2023, the necessary secondary legislation has never materialised and the current Labour government has been rather quiet about the prospect of EIA reform.

All that changed earlier today, when MHCLG published the following two documents:

• The outcome to the Environmental Outcomes Reports consultation that the previous government published in March 2023 – a mere three years after that consultation first opened; and
• The Environmental Outcomes Reports: Roadmap to reform which sets out what is going to happen next.

These documents both commit the Labour government to fully implementing EIA reform, in the guise of Environmental Outcomes Reports, and set out how those reforms are going to be implemented.

To be more specific, MHCLG has committed to:

• bring forward Environmental Outcomes Reports by the end of 2027
• Environmental Outcomes Reports will replace the current EIA system governed by the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning Act 2008 (for NSIPs); and
• Environmental Outcomes Reports will also be introduced to replace the current system of Strategic Environmental Assessments.

The intention is to transition to the new system over time, with a period of dual-running. With the work to introduce the new system being carried out in three phases:

Phase 1: Setting outcomes

Outcomes will be set in secondary legislation which will be supported by detailed guidance and data standards which will, for the first time, be prescribed through regulations.

Phase 2: drafting and consulting on regulations that underpin how EORs will operate in practice

This is a bit of a Ron Seal phase. It probably doesn’t need any further explanation.

Phase 3: Transition and testing period

This phase will focus on laying Statutory Instruments before testing and rolling out Environmental Outcomes Reports. It is envisaged that a number of stress-testing and pilot projects will be conducted before the system is fully rolled out.

The road-map stresses the importance of in-depth consultation and stake-holder engagement throughout the design and implementation of the new EOR system. It even contains details of how to volunteer to get involved.

This is probably a good idea, as I can’t be the only person who didn’t fully appreciate that EIA reform was still on the agenda.

Local Plan Legislation: A re-cap and a round-up

Now, I have already talked, at some length about last week’s flurry of legislation to introduce the new 30 month local-plan system; but not all readers follow me on LinkedIn.

For those of you who don’t, below is a list of all of the secondary legislation introduced last week, along with a single sentence summary of what it does.

• The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) (No. 3) (England) Regulations 2026: These regulations tweak the planning powers and functions of Ebbsfleet and Old Oak and Park Development Corporations
• The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (Commencement No. 11 and Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026: These regulations bring into effect the main LURA provisions required to introduce the 30-Month Local Plan System.

You can read more about these two sets of legislation in this article.

• The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026. These provide the detail for the 30 month local plan system and come into effect on 25 March 2026
• The Town and Country Planning (Costs of Independent Examinations for Local Planning etc.) (Standard Daily Amount) (England) Regulations 2026. These regulations cover the costs that LPAs pay in certain circumstances towards the cost of their plan examinations and come into effect on 25 March 2026
•  The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (Local Planning) (Modification and Consequential Amendments) (England) Regulations 2026. These regulations make various tweaks to Part 2 of the PCPA 2004 – mostly relating to joint local plans and minerals and waste plans. They come into effect on 25 March 2026
• The Requirement to Assist with Certain Plan Making (Prescribed Public Bodies) (England) Regulations 2026. These regulations tell you who the prescribed bodies under the duty to assist with plan making actually are. They come into effect on 25 March 2026
• The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (Commencement No. 10) Regulations 2026. These regulations bring into effect various LURA provisions relating to Development Corporations; and
• The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure)(England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Order 2026. These technically aren’t local plan related, but nonetheless, they are important. These regulations pave the way for a change in that notification requirements to allow the Secretary of State to require advance notification of LPA’s intending to refuse planning applications for developments of 150 homes or more.

Court of Appeal considers test for s.289 Appeals to the Court of Appeal

And finally, we have a slightly niche, but nonetheless important Court of Appeal decision which should probably be on your radar.

In Dharmeshkumar v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government & Anor [2026] EWCA Civ 247  the Court was asked to decide what legal test should be applied when the High Court, or the Court of Appeal, considered granting the right to appeal a s.289 Appeal Decision to the Court of Appeal.

This is an important question as the legal tests are different for:

• First appeals – where permission to appeal should be given if the court believes the appeal would have a real prospect of success; or there is some other compelling reason for the appeal to be heard (CPR 52.6): and
• Second Appeals – where permission should only be given where the above tests are met AND the appeal raises an important point of principle or practice (CPR 52.7), which is clearly a harder burden to meet.

and the underlying legislation was unclear as to which should apply.

The Court of Appeal held that there was no compelling reason for enforcement appeals to the Court of Appeal to be treated any differently to other forms of statutory appeals in planning matters and that “the correct test to be applied by the High Court or the Court of Appeal when deciding whether to grant permission to bring an appeal to the Court of Appeal under s.289(6) of the TCPA 1990 is that laid down in CPR 52.6, not CPR 52.7.“

Meaning that there is no need for s.289 Appeals to the Court of Appeal to demonstrate that they raise an important point of principle of practice in addition to having a real prospect of success.