This page provides planning officers with core information about Environmental Impact Assessment and is an essential starting point for those new to EIA, those returning to undertaking elements of the assessment in their work.
The materials on this page will help to provide officers with a core understanding of the role of EIA in the consenting process. They also provide initial information on the different activities (stages) within the EIA process (see the process maps), with the first slide deck indicating which aspects planning authorities must lead and where various other parties (developers, consultation bodies and the public) are involved in the process. Finally legal compliance aspects of EIA are considered within the slide deck and also in the explainer article.
The main training content can be found in the recordings of two webinars at the bottom of this page.
Environmental Impact Assessment Process Map
A core EIA process diagram has been developed to provide clarity to the various activities required during the delivery of EIA, from determining whether EIA is required (screening) to how an EIA application should be managed in consenting.
Key EIA Regulations
A second version of the process map has also been produced to provide planning authorities with cross references to the key regulations that are relevant to each of the activities across the EIA process. The regulations in question being The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.
The visual process map provides a route map for delivery of the EIA process for projects that are required to undertake the assessment in Scotland and should be read in conjunction with related planning policy, legislation and guidance.
Download the EIA process map including key regulatory references
In the context of Scotland’s planning system, the EIA process is applied where a proposed project is considered likely to have significant effects on the environment, where this is the case the activities set out in the EIA process map (above) must be applied before such a project can be granted consent.
The Introduction to EIA course module was delivered in December 2025 consists of two videos:
- Introduction to EIA for Planning Officers (Download the presentation)
- Introduction to Key EIA Legal Issues for Planning Officers (Download the presentation)
An explainer article was published in December 2025 which introduces the legal context of EIA.
The following video recordings are available for the two learning events mentioned above.
