GovWire

This guide applies to European sites in England and Wales and their inshore waters (within 12 nautical miles of the coast).

A European site is protected by the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 as amended (known as the Habitats Regulations).

As a competent authority, you must carry out an assessment under the Habitats Regulations, known as a habitats regulations assessment (HRA), to test if a plan or project proposal could significantly harm the designated features of a European site.

From the assessments outcome, you can decide whether to approve a project or adopt a plan (a proposal). This includes a proposal you will carry out yourself.

Use this guide to follow the HRA process.

A competent authority is:

• a public body that decides to give a licence, permit, consent or other permission for work to happen, adopt a plan or carry out work for itself, such as a local planning authority
• a statutory undertaker carrying out its work, like a water company or an energy provider
• a minister or department of government, for example that makes national policy or decides an appeal against another competent authoritys decision
• anyone holding public office, such as a planning inspector, ombudsman or commissioner

If youre a developer or a proposer planning an activity that might affect a European site, you can read this guide to understand what a competent authority should do to assess your proposal.

European sites

The following European sites are protected by the Habitats Regulations and any proposals that could affect them will require an HRA:

• Special Areas of Conservation (SACs)
• Special Protection Areas (SPAs)

Any proposals affecting the following sites would also require an HRA because these are protected by government policy:

• proposed SACs
• potential SPAs
• Ramsar sites - wetlands of international importance (both listed and proposed)
• areas secured as sites compensating for damage to a European site

Before you start an HRA

Before you start an HRA, there are several factors you should consider.

Decide if the proposal is a plan or project

You should decide whether the proposal is a plan, a project or neither. Any proposal that might have an impact on a European site is likely to be a plan or project.

If youre sure that the proposal is not a plan or a project, you do not need to carry out an HRA. You must still consider your general duty to protect, conserve and restore European sites before you make a decision or carry out your own work.

You should give the terms plan and project a very broad meaning to cover a wide range of activities.

When a proposal is a plan

A plan sets out where future activities or developments should take place within a certain area. This can include any changes that are proposed to an existing plan.

Examples of plans include:

• local plans and local development plans
• neighbourhood plans
• national policy statements
• marine spatial plans
• funding plans
• flood and coastal erosion risk management plans
• river basin management plans

When a proposal is a project

A project can be any activity or a number of activities that either needs a new or renewed permission from a competent authority before it goes ahead, or that a competent authority proposes to carry out itself. It can also include proposals to change an existing project.

Examples of projects include:

• building or installing transport schemes, housing, retail and industrial developments, wind farms, tidal energy schemes, and extraction of minerals, water or timber
• licensing, permitting or regulating an activity, for example, applications for planning permission, licences, consents or permits issued under byelaws and other legislation, and activities under permitted development rights
• your own statutory activities, such as maintaining highways and flood defences, repairing underground cables or keeping powerlines clear

Check if a proposal might affect a European site

You only need to carry out an HRA if the proposal might affect a European site. The effect of your proposal may depend on its location. It could be:

• on the site
• near the site
• some distance away, for example by causing air, water or noise pollution or affecting a feeding area used by one of the sites designated species

You can locate a European site using Magic map.

To help you decide if a development proposal might affect a land-based SSSI,SAC, SPA or Ramsar wetland, you can:

• check the SSSI Impact Risk Zones data on Magic map
• download the SSSI Impact Risk Zones data from the Natural England Open Data Geoportal to use with your geographic information system software

Make decision making quicker

To make it quicker to decide if a proposal can go ahead, you can:

• help the proposer with the process, for example, keep delays to a minimum and tell them about timings for decisions
• tell the proposer as soon as possible if there are problems with their proposal, such as missing information
• keep duplication to a minimum, for example, you may be able to use information from the HRAs of previous similar decisions if theyre still relevant and up to date
• agree that the proposer can provide information for the HRA alongside other assessments, such as an environmental impact assessment or strategic environmental assessment

Be strategic

Take a strategic approach by dealing with proposals that all have similar risks or impacts in the same way.

You and the proposer should consider working with:

• other competent authorities in the area
• the relevant Statutory Nature Conservation Body (SNCB)
• other specialist groups or organisations in the area

Coordinate with other competent authorities

When theres more than one competent authority carrying out an HRA for the same proposal, you should work together on the assessment. For example, a mineral extraction proposal may need the permission from the local authority and the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales.

Agree a lead competent authority where responsibilities overlap

Where a proposal overlaps with other competent authorities areas of responsibility, you should agree who is the lead competent authority.

For each proposal, decide which authority should lead, based on who has the:

• best technical expertise - when a technical issue is the most important factor in assessing the impact of the proposal
• main interest in cross-boundary cases
• capacity to manage where there are many complex and cross-boundary issues

The lead competent authority will need to:

• act as the single point of contact for the HRA
• make sure each competent authority understands their role and res
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