The Harbour Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations –

“the Act of 1970” means the Harbours Act (Northern Ireland) 1970(1);

“the appropriate Department” means –

(a)

as regards harbour works relating to any fishery harbour, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; and

(b)

as regards any other harbour works, the Department for Regional Development;

“Annex I” means Annex I to the Directive and comprises development of a description referred to in Schedule 3;

“Annex II” means Annex II to the Directive and comprises development of a description referred to in Schedule 4;

“developer” means any person who proposes to carry out or who carries out harbour works;

“the Directive” means Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effect of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(2);

“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;

“environmental statement” means a statement that includes such information of the descriptions referred to in Schedule 1 as is considered, in accordance with these Regulations, to be relevant to the proposed harbour works, but which includes at least the essential environmental information;

“essential environmental information” means –

(a)

a description of the proposed harbour works comprising information on its site, design and size;

(b)

a description of the measures which the applicant proposes to take in order to prevent, reduce or remedy significant adverse effects;

(c)

data required to identify and assess the main effects which the proposed harbour works are likely to have on the environment;

(d)

an outline of the main alternatives studied by the developer and an indication of the main reasons for his choice, taking into account the environmental effects; and

(e)

a non-technical summary of the information mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d);

“fishery harbour” has the meaning assigned to it in Article 1(2) of the Ministries (Transfer of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1973(3);

“harbour” and “harbour authority” have the meanings assigned to them in section 38(1) of the Act of 1970;

“harbour order” means an order made under section 1(1) of the Act of 1970;

“harbour works” means works involved in the construction of a harbour or in the making of modifications to an existing harbour;

“relevant project” means a project which would be likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location;

“selection criteria” means the criteria set out in Schedule 2;

“sensitive area” means any of the following –

(a)

an area designated by order as a National Park under Article 12 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985(4);

(b)

an area of outstanding natural beauty designated as such by an order made under Article 14 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

(c)

an area of land declared to be a national nature reserve under Article 18 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

(d)

an area designated by order as a marine nature reserve under Article 20 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985(5);

(e)

a nature reserve provided by a district council under Article 22(1) of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

(f)

an area of special scientific interest, that is to say, an area of land declared to be an area of special scientific interest under Article 24 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985(6);

(g)

a wildlife refuge, that is to say, an area specified in an order made under Article 16 of the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985(7);

(h)

a scheduled monument within the meaning of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(8);

(i)

a European site within the meaning of Regulation 9 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(9);

(j)

Ramsar sites listed under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat(10);

(k)

a property appearing on the World Heritage list kept under Article 11(2) of the 1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage(11);

and subject thereto, expressions used which are also used in the Directive have the meaning which they bear in the Directive.

(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(12) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations a person carries out harbour works if he carries out the whole or any part of such works or any operation in connection with or for the purposes of such works.

(4) Harbour works constituting a project which is of a description mentioned in Annex II to the Directive shall be treated for the purposes of these Regulations as not falling within that Annex unless –

(a) the area of the harbour works exceed 1 hectare,

(b) any part of the harbour works is to be carried out in a sensitive area, or

(c) the appropriate Department determines that the harbour works constituting the project shall be treated for the purposes of these Regulations as falling within that Annex.

(1)

1970 c. l (N.I.)

(2)

Cmmd. 2073

(3)

S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1973 No. 128

(4)

S.I. 1985/170 (N.I. 1)

(5)

Article 20 was amended by Section 3 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Territorial Sea Act 1987 (1987 c. 49)

(6)

Article 24 was amended by Article 10(1) of S.I. 1989/492 (N.I. 3)

(7)

1985/171 (N.I. 2); Article 16 was amended by Article 4(1)(d) of S.I. 1995/761 (N.I. 6)

(8)

S.I. 1995/1625 (N.I. 9)

(9)

S.R. 1995 No. 380

(10)

See Command Paper 6464

(11)

See Command paper 9424

(12)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)