Examination of Witnesses (Questions 2820
- 2839)
2820. MR ELVIN: Yes.
2821. CHAIRMAN: Articles 6, 8, 14 and
Protocol 1, paragraph 1.
2822. MR ELVIN: It is fair to say, my
Lord, on the issue of the European Convention on Human Rights,
our position remains the broad position as set out at the end
of our opening speech on 19 February and, again, I am happy to
expand on that when we have heard a little more from the Petitioners
as to their specific points, but I am quite happy, if your Lordships
require it, to recap on the matters on human rights that I gave
in opening.
2823. CHAIRMAN: It is the European Community
Directive on the Assessment on the Environment.
2824. MR ELVIN: That is the EIA Directive,
my Lord.
2825. CHAIRMAN: I do not think that is
the EIA one.
2826. MR ELVIN: My Lord, I promise.
2827. CHAIRMAN: Very well. It has been
separately listed by the Petitioners.
2828. MR ELVIN: Would your Lordships
give me a moment?
2829. CHAIRMAN: The effect on the environment.
2830. MR ELVIN: My Lord, it has got a
very long title.
2831. CHAIRMAN: They always do.
2832. MR ELVIN: And I think that is what
is causing the confusion. The EIA Directive, that is simply what
those of us who know and love it call it for short, is actually
called Council Directive on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain
Public and Private Projects on the Environment. That may be where
the confusion has arisen. That is the full title to the Directive
but it is the EIA Directive.
2833. CHAIRMAN: Very well. What we need,
of course, are the regulations, not the Directive.
2834. MR ELVIN: Actually, my Lord, that
is not the case because the regulations do not apply to Parliament.
2835. CHAIRMAN: They do not apply to
Parliament, no.
2836. MR ELVIN: In order for the EIA
Directive to be satisfied, and we set this out in the first chapter
of the Environmental Statement right back at the beginning, what
you have to do is to satisfy the legislative exemption because
obviously this is a legislative forum and what you have to show
to exempt the project from normal Environmental Impact Assessment
is that the Bill process has broadly complied with the requirements
of Environmental Impact Assessment itself. In fact, what you are
looking at is broad compliance with the Directive.
2837. CHAIRMAN: I think what the normal
situation would be is if you were putting in a planning application
for development which falls within the categories covered by that
Directive you would have to satisfy the local planning authority
before you had any hope of getting planning permission.
2838. MR ELVIN: Yes.
2839. CHAIRMAN: If you do it by means
of a Bill the only people who need to be satisfied is Parliament,
is that right?
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