Comment
Environmental Outcomes Reports: What do we know now?
On 13 March 2026, the Government published ‘Environmental Outcomes Reports: Roadmap to reform’ [1]. This was expected in early 2025, but a year on, this has now landed alongside a response to the previous 2023 consultation (for which there were 278 responses). In this article we look at what the roadmap sets out, exploring the clarity provided and the further detail still needed.
All of this relates to the replacement of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with Environmental Outcomes Reports (EOR) in England. The delivery of the promised ‘Roadmap’ for EOR does provide some further clarity on the direction of travel, although much of the detail remains the subject of what looks like extensive consultation ahead of the implementation of new Regulations by the end of 2027.
The Roadmap sets out three phases:
Phase 1 – Setting the Outcomes and Guidance and how they will need to be met.
Phase 2 – Reforming the Process, the planned consultation and scope of this.
Phase 3 – Transition and Testing Period (providing assurance of careful transitioning after pilots have been completed).
We are reminded of the purpose of EOR – making the process and outputs currently delivered through SEA and EIA more efficient and simpler to understand for all (in terms of need, expectations and conclusions). We are also reminded that the rigour of environmental assessment, and its role in at least maintaining environmental protection, is a given.
Further detail on some of the clarity provided in the roadmap is set out below:
- Regulations to which this will apply – as opposed to replacing all EIA Regulations in England (of which there are many), the focus will be on three sets of Regulations which apply to homes and infrastructure under the Town and County Planning Act 1990 and the Planning Act 2008 (for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects [NSIPs]).
- Interface with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Habitat Regulations and Environmental Delivery Plans (EDP) – these will sit outside of EOR for now, but co-ordination is likely.
- Adoption of existing, underlying EIA principles – unlike historic communications, it has been confirmed that any new assessment procedure will still require the identification of likely significant effects.
- Focus on the natural environment – historic communications have sought to focus EOR on the natural environment as opposed to people and communities. It looks like the position remains, despite concerns articulated in the responses to the 2023 consultation.
- Climate change – there is now commitment to explore ways in which climate change could be represented within EOR in a meaningful way.
- Scoping – the importance of this in EOR was previously discounted. However, this is now referenced as a potential key theme for future consultation and engagement.
- Data standards – the expectations will be mandated through new Regulations, and this will enable sharing of data across industry, an underlying pre-requisite of any new EOR system.
- Further consultation and engagement – there is commitment to further consultation with stakeholders, focus groups, experts and users/practitioners in industry. Key areas for consultation and engagement include indicators (how Outcomes may be judged); process and templates (how the system will operate in practice); and the level of evidence that will be required to show delivery against Outcomes. Alongside scoping, screening, decision-making, monitoring and enforcement are further, potential key themes to be addressed.
- Piloting, testing and guidance – there is a commitment to this prior to any implementation. The new Regulations will be supported by Guidance, templates and examples.
- Timescales and transition – new Regulations will be in place by the end of 2027 and transitional arrangements will also be in place. We are assuming that these are likely to be similar arrangements to the transposition of the 2017 EIA Regulations. This will result in both EIA and EOR running in parallel, giving developers certainty over the process they need to adopt for their plans and projects. We also need to be mindful that project level EOR may occur ahead of plan level EOR.
In summary, this is a road map as promised in 2025 which does deliver some clarity, but one that defers much of the detail to future consultation and engagement. However, a lot of the themes from the responses to the 2023 consultation seem to have been acknowledged and are likely to form part of a new EOR Regime in England. This is positive and provides more clarity. What remains unclear is:
- The digital infrastructure, skills and training that will be required to be up and running before the end of 2027.
- An understanding of how EOR will interact with the rest of the planning framework (i.e. the vast majority of other planning applications for which we assume EOR will not apply).
- How EOR will interact with other environmental assessment regimes in the UK.
To meet the target of new Regulations by the end of 2027, there will be a requirement for consultation on more of the detail in the coming months.
At this stage, if there are project programmes which are likely to result in applications being submitted in the third quarter of 2027 or later, then advice should be sought on likely options that may be available.
For further information on the roadmap, and what it may mean for your project, please contact Andy Ricketts.
17 March 2026