We must be consulted at various stages during the assessment on all plans or programmes requiring SEA that affect any part of England or Wales.
The SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) indicates that member states must 'designate authorities to be consulted, by reason of their specific environmental responsibilities'. The Environment Agency has been designated as a statutory Consultation Body in both the English and Welsh Regulations. This means we must be consulted at a number of stages throughout the development of the plan and its accompanying SEA; however, we are not formally required to respond to consultations.
What level of service can you expect?
We have produced joint standards of service with both the English and Welsh Consultation Bodies in order to set out what services we will provide in relation to SEA and the environmental issues each of the bodies is interested in:
Who are the other Statutory Consultation Bodies?
To find out which organisations have been designated alongside the Environment Agency as Statutory Consultation Bodies / Authorities in relation to SEA follow the link below:
