What is the alternative? Impact assessment tools and sustainable planning

This paper takes a critical look at environmental impact assessment (EIA), especially in the UK, and evaluates its strengths and weaknesses in terms of sustainable spatial planning. Of the many shortcomings and criticisms levelled at impact assessment, the paper concentrates on those elements considered crucial to a move towards sustainable planning, in particular the role of public participation, issues of alternatives and uncertainty, the problem of cumulative effects, the diversity of value systems, the issue of decision-making and the links from impact assessment into integrated environmental management. It concludes that the current European Union (UK) EIA system does not, and probably will not, without radical improvement, offer a tool for sustainable planning.