The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive: A Plan for Success?

The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC) (SEA) has been a lurking legal presence in EU and UK environmental law. Plainly of considerable significance in relation to strategic governmental plans and programmes, its practical implications are only now just beginning to be worked through. Legal challenges to decisions made even at the highest policy level are being brought on the back of the SEA Directive. This book is a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Directive, from its history and scope, to its impact on governmental policy and its implications in practice. The book is both timely, in light of key cases such as Case C-567/10 Inter-Environnement Bruxelles and HS2, and forward-looking, as it considers and projects future legal implications of the SEA Directive. Written by a blend of distinguished academics and leading practitioners it provides an in-depth critique and rounded appreciation of both the immediate practical effects of SEA and its wider impact on European and UK environmental law.

Gregory Jones QC is a barrister practising at Francis Taylor Building, Temple, London. He is called to the bars of England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Since working as a stagiaire at the European Commission and as Jean Pierre Warner Scholar at the European Court of Justice, Gregory has established himself as a leading practitioner in the fields of planning and environmental law with a particular expertise in the impact of EU environmental law. Appointed by the Irish government, Gregory chaired the independent review of An Bord Pleanala. Eloise Scotford is a Senior Lecturer in Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London. She actively researches in the areas of climate change law and governance, waste regulation, air quality control, comparative environmental law and the intersection between environmental problems and broader legal frameworks. She is an Associate Member of Landmark Chambers, a visiting lecturer in environmental law at Bocconi University in Milan, a member of the Avosetta Group of EU environmental law experts, and Analysis Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law.