EIA Still Required for Boom plan

Many local residents recently received the updated Boom brochure. It outlines a reduction in scale for the scheme, a common tactic for developers looking to appear understanding of community concerns. With this change, Boom had asked the Wakefield Council planning team to reassess the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The EIA is a sizeable report covering a range of potential impacts of significant development. Some of these factors include:

1) The landscape character

2) Hedgerows, copses, trees and vegetation on site

3) Adjacent ecological designations of local, national and European importance

4) Cumulative impacts of the New

Hall and already approved Low Farm scheme

5) The high quality nature of the agricultural land and its resulting loss from production.

6) Public rights of way within and adjacent to the site

7) Waterbodies and watercourses adjacent to the site

8) Interaction with the local road network, including glint and glare

9) Archaeology

10) Land stability given the mining history

As you can imagine, the resources needed to analyse the likely impact on these factors are significant in both time and cost. Whatever you stance, an EIA ensures that the site is carefully considered and any resulting development appropriate, thereby mitigating major impacts. To undertake this work is a sign of respect for the important nature of our landscape and attempts to avoid doing so are in the interest of cost cutting.

Thankfully, as with the original proposal, Wakefield Council’s planning team have determined that the updated scheme ‘could reasonably be anticipated to result in significant effects on the environment’. Concern around landscape and visual impact is specifically highlighted, especially given the cumulative impact with the already approved Low Farm scheme. This is a crucial result for our cause and the protection of Sitlington’s countryside. It is important to thank the Wakefield planners for their work.