Professor Martin Broderick
Visiting Professor & Examining Inspector for National Infrastructure Projects, Planning Inspectorate
School of the Built Environment
Publications
Journal articles
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Broderick M, Durning B, 'Decision-making for major infrastructure during a pandemic – the response of the Planning Inspectorate in England'
Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal [in press] (2025)
ISSN: 1461-5517 eISSN: 1471-5465AbstractOpen Access on RADARThis paper sets out the response of the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), the UK Government’s Executive Agency responsible for the decision-making process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England, to the COVID-19 public health emergency in 2020. Adopting a reflecting-in-action methodology, the paper focuses on how, during a national ‘lockdown’, PINS ‘pivoted’ the technology of public participation from in-person to virtual to ensure that the publics and wider stakeholders could continue to contribute to decision-making, despite restrictions imposed by the public health emergency. It proffers an example of how the Government agency, through being adaptive and reflective, was able to continue the co-production participatory decision-making process for NSIPs. It also adds to the ongoing discussions regarding the evolution in digital/ online/ virtual engagement tools for future decision-making and emphasises these may need to be part of a ‘toolbox’ of approaches depending on the nature of proposed project and the wishes of those publics and stakeholders being invited to engage and participate in decision-making.
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Glasson J, Durning B, Broderick M, Welch K, 'Monitoring and auditing the local socio-economic and environmental impacts of the early stage construction of Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station, UK'
Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 39 (2) (2020) pp.84-95
ISSN: 1461-5517 eISSN: 1471-5465AbstractPublished here Open Access on RADARMajor projects, in sectors such as transport, energy, minerals and water, have long life cycles and can have significant local and regional environmental and socio-economic impacts. The impacts of the construction stage can be particularly damaging, if not managed well. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) seeks to anticipate such impacts, mitigate adverse and enhance positive impacts through design innovations and associated conditions. However, the approach is only as good as the implementation of such innovations and conditions. The issue of monitoring and auditing of actual, as against predicted, impacts is an Achilles heel in the planning and assessment process. Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear power station in the UK is currently one of the largest construction projects in Europe. A recent study of the live project provides a unique insight into the actual local impacts of the early construction years, and appropriate methods of assessment. It identifies KPIs, examines monitoring data, and audits findings against the predictions. The results show varying performance across key impact sectors. Explanations of differences are set out, together with recommendations for improving monitoring and auditing practice.
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Durning B, Broderick M, 'Development of cumulative impact assessment guidelines for offshore wind farms and evaluation of use in project making'
Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 37 (2) (2018) pp.124-138
ISSN: 1461-5517 eISSN: 1471-5465AbstractThe offshore wind energy sector in the UK has grown rapidly since the first turbine generators were installed in 2000: by 2016 there were over 1400 installed turbines with combined capacity of 5.1GW. The sector is considered by UK Government as essential to the development of a low carbon economy and to meeting binding targets on carbon reduction and renewable energy generation. The Crown Estate, responsible for licensing development on the sea bed around the UK, has held 3 rounds of licensing since 2000 for wind developments. Some of the projects in the first two rounds suffered long delays due to uncertainty of project level impacts, particularly cumulative impacts. A number of key stakeholders identified a need for cumulative impact assessment methodology to be developed that was definitive and endorsed by regulators and industry to aid unblocking barriers to delivery. This paper explores the background to the development of such guidelines and how they were ‘co-created’ with industry and regulators. We evaluate to what extent they have been used to shape and develop practice.Published here Open Access on RADAR
Book chapters
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Broderick M, Durning B, Sánchez L, 'Cumulative effects assessment' in Therivel R, Wood G (ed.), Methods of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (4th ed.), Routledge (2017)
ISBN: 9781138647640 eISBN: 9781317236528AbstractThe environmental effects of development are mitigated from two distinct perspectives – ex ante (before), through ESIA, and ex post (after), through environmental management systems (EMS). The need to ensure that the outcomes of environmental assessment are carried through into environmental management, and that management practices are adaptive, was first recognised in the 1970s (e.g. Holling 1978). The use of management plans, particularly Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs), to ensure that mitigation measures identified during ESIA are implemented and monitoring is carried out, has been a steadily evolving area of ESIA practice since the 1990s. A study by the Institute for Environmental Assessment and Management (IEMA) into the state of EIA practice in the UK reported that 80 per cent of its survey respondents would welcome inclusion of the requirement to develop Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) 1 as mandatory in EIA legislation (IEMA 2011). Bennett et al. (2016) observed that 95 per cent of the practitioners interviewed for their UK based study dealt with EMPs ‘either all the time or fairly regularly’. Interest in and use of ESMPs is increasing globally with impetus coming from International Financial Institutions (e.g. the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)), which include the requirement for management plans within their policies and performance requirements when providing project finance.Published here -
Durning B, Broderick M, 'Environmental and Social Management Plans' in Therivel R, Wood G (ed.), Methods of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (4th ed.), Routledge (2017)
ISBN: 9781138647640 eISBN: 9781317236528AbstractThe environmental effects of development are mitigated from two distinct perspectives – ex ante (before), through ESIA, and ex post (after), through environmental management systems (EMS). The need to ensure that the outcomes of environmental assessment are carried through into environmental management, and that management practices are adaptive, was first recognised in the 1970s (e.g. Holling 1978). The use of management plans, particularly Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs), to ensure that mitigation measures identified during ESIA are implemented and monitoring is carried out, has been a steadily evolving area of ESIA practice since the 1990s. A study by the Institute for Environmental Assessment and Management (IEMA) into the state of EIA practice in the UK reported that 80 per cent of its survey respondents would welcome inclusion of the requirement to develop Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) 1 as mandatory in EIA legislation (IEMA 2011). Bennett et al. (2016) observed that 95 per cent of the practitioners interviewed for their UK based study dealt with EMPs ‘either all the time or fairly regularly’. Interest in and use of ESMPs is increasing globally with impetus coming from International Financial Institutions (e.g. the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)), which include the requirement for management plans within their policies and performance requirements when providing project finance.Published here -
Durning B, Broderick M, 'Environmental and social management plans' in Therivel R, Wood G (ed.), Methods of Environmental Impact Assessment (4th Ed), Routledge (2016)
Other publications
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Glasson J, Durning B, Broderick M, 'HINKLEY POINT C PEAK CONSTRUCTION: IMPACTS MONITORING AND AUDITING STUDY (2023-24)', (2024)
Published here Open Access on RADAR -
Glasson J, Durning B, Broderick M, Welch K, 'Study on the impacts of the early stage construction of the Hinkley Point C (HPC) Nuclear Power Station', (2020)
Published here -
Durning B, Broderick MA, 'Mini review of current practice in the assessment of cumulative environmental effects of UK Offshore Renewable Energy Developments when carried out to aid decision making in a regulatory context', (2015)
Published here