EU Environmental and Planning Law Aspects of Large-Scale Projects

Governments, companies, environmental associations and citizens all over the European Union (EU) are struggling with large scale projects. On the one hand large scale projects can contribute to economic development, on the other hand they often also raise environmental concerns. Because of their size and potential impact, large scale projects usually lead to heavy debates and quickly become of great symbolic value. Consequently, large scale projects are excellent examples of the difficulty to balance economic development with environmental protection.

The types of large scale projects, planned as well as ‘under construction’ in the EU, are very diverse. One can think of all kinds of infrastructure projects (motorways, railways, waterways, stations, ports, airports,...), building projects (offices, housing projects, sports stadiums, redevelopment of brownfields,...), waste projects (incineration, landfill,...), energy projects (electricity and gas networks, wind farms, biogas installations, heat networks, extraction projects,...), climate projects (CDM projects,...), water projects, etc.

In order to promote the legal thinking about all kinds of environmental and planning law aspects of large scale projects, Hasselt University and KU Leuven, Campus Brussels jointly hosted from 10 to 12 September 2014 the second European Environmental Law Forum (EELF) Conference, with as central topic “Environmental and Planning Law Aspects of Large Scale Projects”. The conference focused more specifically on the following aspects:

- The role of spatial and environmental planning
- Permitting and review procedures
- Critical sectoral regimes
- Horizontal measures

This book offers a selection of the contributions presented at the EELF Conference. They have all been submitted to two double-blind peer reviews.

The book is subdivided into six main themes:
1. General
2. Public participation
3. Environmental impact assessment
4. Water
5. Nature
6. Land use