Eton’s “Environmental Impact Assessment” Scoping Report – our response
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required when developments are likely to have significant environmental effects due to their size, nature or location. An EIA is used to assess the likely impacts on issues including biodiversity, landscape, land, soil, water, climate and human health. Prior to this, developers submit a Scoping Report which sets out what they believe needs to be assessed in the EIA.
The proposed Eton development would urbanise around 450 acres of open countryside beside the South Downs National Park, affecting sensitive landscape, farmland, wildlife habitats, watercourses and the ecologically important Bevern Stream. We believe the EIA Scoping Opinion is fundamentally inadequate in scope, methodology and baseline evidence, with key impacts minimised, deferred or excluded altogether.
Our concerns include:
• A developer-led process that allows the applicant to control what is assessed, how impacts are measured and which issues are scoped out
• The exceptional scale of a new urban settlement in open countryside adjoining the National Park
• Significant underestimation of landscape and visual impacts, including panoramic views from locations such as Ditchling Beacon and Blackcap
• Ecological assessments based partly on outdated or incomplete survey data, with concerns over habitat fragmentation, ancient woodland, veteran trees and protected species
• Major concerns over flooding, runoff, pollution and impacts on the ecologically sensitive Bevern Stream chalk-stream system
• Severe likely transport impacts on narrow rural roads, junctions, level crossings and routes through the National Park
• Concerns regarding water supply, wastewater infrastructure and long-term sustainability in an area already facing water stress
• Permanent and potentially irreversible carbon losses from soils, pasture and landscape urbanisation
• Failure to properly assess cumulative impacts alongside other major developments & infrastructure pressures across the wider area
• The exclusion of important topics including lighting, human health, soils and waste from the assessment process
We are calling for a substantially expanded EIA scope, updated ecological surveys, rigorous cumulative assessment, realistic transport modelling, robust hydrology and carbon assessments, and full consideration of alternatives before any planning application progresses.
Related documents
All related documents to date in relation to Eton’s proposed scheme (LW/26/0191) on Lewes District Council’s website
Do also see responses from Chailey Parish Council and East Chiltington Parish Council.