Environmental Impact Assessment
As part of the planning process, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is being carried out to understand the likely effects that the proposals would have on the environment. This considers the potential effects on the construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed development. While the EIA has been commissioned by Liverpool Bay CCS Limited, it is being undertaken by independent and suitably qualified environmental specialists.
There are four key stages to the EIA process:
- Gathering information and data on the area as it currently stands, for example to understand the local wildlife that is present in the local area. This includes field surveys, the majority of which are now complete.
- The extent of the issues and topics to be considered as part of the EIA is described in a Scoping Report. For this project, the EIA Scoping Report was submitted to Flintshire County Council for review in March 2024. The Local Authority subsequently provided its Scoping Opinion in May 2024 to confirm the extent of the EIA.
- A draft Environmental Statement has been prepared, taking on board feedback from survey results, design information, optioneering and stakeholder feedback. It describes the findings of the assessments and the effects we have identified to date, and how we propose to avoid, reduce and minimise these impacts. This draft Environmental Statement has been published and is available for comment during this consultation period.
- Comments received to this consultation on the draft Environmental Statement will be considered, alongside any outstanding surveys and assessments. The final Environmental Statement will then be submitted as part of the planning application to Flintshire County Council, anticipated for summer 2025.
Environmental topics
The Environmental Statement will outline a number of topics as well as any mitigations necessary to ensure limited impact. This includes:
- Air quality
- Climate change, including climate resilience and greenhouse gases
- Cultural heritage and archaeology
- Ecology and biodiversity
- Designated sites
- Priority habitats
- Protected species
- Trees, hedgerows and habitats
- Biodiversity net gain
- Land and soils
- Landscape and views
- Major accidents and disasters
- Mitigation and safety measures
- Noise and vibration
- Population and human health
- Traffic and transport
- Water environment and flooding
The draft Environmental Statement is available for comment as part of this consultation. Feedback on it will be considered during its finalisation before it is submitted to Flintshire County Council as part of the planning application.
A Non-Technical Summary (NTS) of all the findings in the draft Environmental Statement is also available to view in Welsh and English. Both documents can be viewed in Document Library here.