Noise and newts: public engagement in the UK and Sweden

There are many incentives to improve public participation involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and public inquiries not least because the conflicts arising from protests against new developments are practical problems that need to be solved. This paper addresses the ambition of promoting public participation in EIA. In doing this, it illustrates how legal or quasi-legal processes, such as EIA and public inquiries facilitate or restrain public involvement. Two cases of airport developments are compared: the EIA process for the planned extension of the airport in Örebro, Sweden and the public inquiry process for the planned extension of the airport in Manchester, UK. The concluding section discusses how the requirement to achieve efficient public involvement could be met.