Planning Advice Note 51: planning, environmental protection and regulation

Conclusion

69. Planning authorities, the environmental protection bodies and the regimes which protect people and the environment have heavy responsibilities. The regimes reflect not only the complexities of the issues, but also the fact that the environment is not compartmentalised according to neat administrative demarcation lines. To a certain extent, it is inevitable that the protection of the environment will sometimes require more than one regime to be applied. A major task of this PAN has therefore been to acknowledge the complex nature of the environmental protection issues and seek to ensure that arrangements are in place which minimise the risks to public health and to the environment. It is the responsibility of planning authorities and the environmental protection bodies to collaborate in the task of protecting the environment, and to apply controls so that duplication is minimised and overlap is avoided whenever possible.