Significant    environmental    impact?    Howpresent municipalities its assessment if plans can have significant environmental impact?

Abstract: According to Swedish law municipalities have to assess if detailed development plans may lead to a significant effect on the environment, a screening. In this the- sis  we have investigated how municipalities present their assessment in the de- tailed development plan brief. We have examined all plans that came into legal force in 2012 in the county of Stockholm 259 plans in total. Of all the plans, 223 include a screening in the detailed development plan brief. We have studied the municipalities explanations, why they make a screening on detailed development plans, if the municipalities provide a statement whether a significant environmental impact may occur or not, and if the municipalities justi- fied their statement. Furthermore, we have studied whether municipalities state that consultations have taken place and if they refers to environment-related doc- uments in their screening. We also have classified the explanation and the justifi- cations as clear or unclear. Finally, we investigated what impact the acreage of the plan has on the screening. Almost all plans with a screening in the detailed development plan brief make statement. About a quarter of the plans making a statement lacks justifications. For more than half of the plans with statement and justification, the justification is unclear. We have observed that plans prepared in a simplified way have poorer screenings. Furthermore, the result implies that the quality of screenings is higher for plans concerning national interest and/or shore protection and for plans primarily con- cerning green land. We can see that the number of plans that may lead to signifi- cant environmental effects increases with larger plan areas, as does the amount of clear justifications. Out of all plans, only 3.5 percent was considered being able to cause such a significant effect on the environment that an environmental impact assessment was conducted. Finally, we suggest a law enforcement that the screenings must be presented in the detailed development plan brief. Additionally, we think that the legislation con- cerning screenings has to be clearer, simpler and more specific.