Updates to traffic and movement assessment advice

In July, we published the long-awaited update and replacement of one of IEMA’s first published impact assessment guidance documents from 1993, Guidelines for the Environmental Assessment of Road Traffic.

The purpose of the new guidelines is the same as the 1993 version: to provide practitioners with good practice advice on how to carry out the assessment of traffic and movement of people as part of a statutory EIA or non-statutory environmental assessment.

The 2023 guidelines, Environmental Assessment of Traffic and Movement, bring IEMA’s advice up to date based on the lessons learned over the past 30 years of impact assessment practice in the field, and provide the basis for systematic, comprehensive coverage for the assessment of traffic and movement impacts for a range of development projects.

In addition to advice on traffic and movement, guidance is provided by experts leading impact assessments that have interactions with traffic and movement, including: air quality, noise, vibration, health, landscape, biodiversity, cultural heritage, climate and greenhouse gases.

The intended audience for these updated guidelines includes EIA practitioners, determining authorities and other stakeholders concerned with the assessment of traffic and movement impacts within the environmental assessment process. The new guidelines should be used by EIA practitioners working on projects in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The guidelines will also be useful to many international practitioners, particularly those applying the EIA directive, such as in the Republic of Ireland, as much of the advice is highly relevant and applicable to many international EIA regimes.

For more, see: bit.ly/3PRvRU2