Abstract
NatureScot's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) handbook offers practical guidance and a ready source of information to anyone involved in the process. Its aim is to help to make the EIA process more effective, in turn prompting better-informed decisions and ultimately improved environmental protection.
In places it illustrates or concentrates on the treatment of natural heritage issues but, even where there is such a focus, the principles are often more widely applicable to other environmental topics.
Unless otherwise indicated, the advice in this Handbook applies to the EIA process in respect of all project types, even though it concentrates on the EIA process in relation to the town and country planning system.