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PEA/EcIA

What is a PEA/EcIA?

A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) is a rapid assessment of the ecological features present, or potentially present, within a proposed development site and/or the surrounding area. It normally comprises a desk study and a walkover survey to identify the habitats present and assess the potential for protected and priority species. A PEA should be carried out in the early stages of a proposed project to identify any high-level potential impacts, constraints and opportunities, and the need for further survey.

A PEA is not suitable for planning but is used to inform the design team.

An Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) is a complete assessment of all the likely significant ecological impacts that a project might have. It combines details of the PEA with the results of further surveys should they be required, into a fully comprehensive report which is suitable for submission to planning.

PEAs can normally be carried out over one day depending on the size of the site, whereas EcIAs may need to be informed by a suite of further surveys for habitats and/or protected species.

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Our Approach.

At Ecology by Design, we recommend that a PEA is carried out at the outset of a proposed project. Site selection, the development layout and design, infrastructure and the timeline can be hugely affected by a raft of ecological factors. This is why it makes sense to understand what they might be as early as possible.

Reporting.

We aim to deliver most PEAs within 2-3 weeks of a site visit. Both PEAs and EcIAs normally comprise a site description together with a summary of the proposed development works, a description of the ecological methodologies employed, the findings, potential impacts and recommendations including pragmatic solutions to specific challenges.

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