Screening refers to the process that determines whether a proposed development must undertake EIA before consent can be granted. Screening occurs via the production of a screening opinion (by a planning authority) or screening direction (by the Scottish Ministers).
Not all development proposals require EIA, in fact the majority of Scotland’s planning applications do not need to undergo EIA, instead considering environmental and community issues through the regular planning system. However, those projects that are considered likely to have significant effects on the environment are required to undergo EIA. The term used for this process of identifying which projects require an EIA and those that don’t is known as screening.
In some cases the need for EIA is already determined and a planning officer will not need to undertake additional activity, such as those projects that meet or are above a description set out in Schedule 1 of the EIA Regulations, or in the case where a developer chooses themselves to submit an EIA Report alongside their application.
In other cases, however, the PA will need to determine whether they need to identify whether the project needs to be screened and if so, then produce a screening opinion by considering whether the developer’s proposal is likely to have significant effects on the environment. The type of proposal that requires a screening opinion is known as a Schedule 2 development.
The resources below (diagrams, article, slide deck and recording) provide the course materials related to EIA screening.
Schedule 2 developments require screening to be undertaken by the planning authority to remove the EIA regulations prohibition for granting consent for EIA development [defined in Regulation 3]. In effect, the screening opinion either identifies the EIA Regulations do not apply or that the proposal is an EIA development and must therefore undertake an EIA.
A Schedule 2 development is defined in the EIA regulations and explained within the EIA screening recording and slides below. In summary, Schedule 2 developments must fit at least one of the broad project descriptions (/sub-types) listed in the first column and either have:
- Any part of the proposed development within a sensitive area [the list of these is set out in the related definition in Regulation 2 of the EIA regulations – and repeated in the Glossary]
OR
- Meet or exceed the applicable threshold for the relevant development type, as set out in the second column in Schedule 2 of the EIA regulations.
Once the PA has identified that the proposal is a Schedule 2 development, they then need to issue a screening opinion. In many cases, a developer seeking to undertake a Schedule 2 development will contact the PA seeking to make a screening request in the first instance to confirm whether an EIA is required.
The following diagrams present the screening process.
The first sets out the procedural steps across the EIA screening process and is a copied (with permission) from Scottish Government Circular 1/2017. The second diagram sets out the practical activities that a planning officer needs to complete in developing, writing up and communicating their screening opinion.
Download the EIA Screening Procedure (after Circular 1/2017, Figure 1) diagram
Download the Practical steps for planning officers in making a Screening Opinion diagram
A complexity that can occur for planning officers in undertaking the screening process is ensuring that they understand the whole project that makes up the developer’s proposal. Where a proposed project is complex there can be a need for planning officers to step back and consider whether the project includes more than that set out in the developer’s core proposal. The EIA Explainer Article below explores this subject in further detail and provide examples from legal cases to help provide context and confidence to planning officers in such situations.
The EIA screening course module was initially delivered as a live learning event for planning authorities. The module has been made freely available to all parties and members of the public with an interest in the assessment.
The EIA screening module delivered in January 2026 consists of the video below with the related slide deck available for download:
- EIA Screening: Enhancing Planning Officer Confidence & Understanding (Download the presentation)
Links to further information on screening – the slides mention the following documents as EIA resources that include sections with further advice on EIA screening:
In addition, the Government in Northern Ireland has produced a specific development management practice note on EIA Screening (9B).
Note: this document has no direct application in Scotland; however, it may be of interest to those wishing to explore the topic and its complexities further.
The video recording is available for the above mentioned learning event.