Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Environment definition

What does Environment mean? In legal practice, environment refers to the natural media and the living systems potentially affected by a project, operation or emission. UK environmental legislation commonly defines it as including air, water and land, and any living organisms (including humans) and ecosystems supported by those media. Similar formulations are used across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and in Irish environmental legislation; exact wording varies by statute and context, but usage is broadly consistent. Where a regime provides a definition, courts apply that text; where it does not, the term carries its ordinary meaning. The concept sets the scope of regulatory...

Developers’ guide to habitats, species protection, surveys, mitigation, licences, Biodiversity Net Gain and the Nature Restoration Fund in planning (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

Practice notes

Protected areas and protected sites

Under section 55(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), development is taken to include carrying out building, engineering, mining or other works in, on, over or beneath land, as well as any material change to the use of buildings or other land. Anyone who has acquired, or is considering acquiring, land for development, or who plans to undertake development activity, must first assess whether the land is a protected site or supports protected species. It is the developer’s duty to establish whether proposed works could impact a protected area or site. They should check, in advance, whether their proposals are likely to affect any such areas or sites at all. Protected areas and protected sites include:

national parks—areas designated for their natural beauty and for the opportunities they provide for open-air recreation, with regard to their character and their relationship to centres of population. See Practice Note: Biodiversity and nature—protected sites
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty—tracts of countryside in England and Wales, outside national parks, designated in recognition of their notable landscape value. See Practice Note: Areas of outstanding natural beauty (National Landscapes)
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)—a site notified

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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