4.3.1 The Environmental Statement.
 Some form of environmental assessment is essential when it comes to applying for planning permission and environmental licenses.
Under the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988, the planning application for any development that the planning authority considers likely to have a significant impact on the environment must be accompanied by an Environmental Statement. This document provides an assessment of the project’s likely environmental effects, together with any design, construction, operational and decommissioning measures that are to be taken to minimise them. It would typically cover such issues as flora, fauna, noise levels, traffic, land use, archaeology, recreation, landscape, and air and water quality.
The Environment Agency may also require a report assessing the environmental effects of the development. If the planning authority has asked for an Environmental Statement, this may meet the requirements of the Environment Agency. However, the Environment Agency may ask for environmental information even if the local planning authority does not. Such information might cover water use, water quality, fisheries, river ecology, flood defence, nature conservation and public recreation issues. The Environment Agency should be consulted at an early stage and will provide guidance on what is required.
Specialist environmental consultants may be employed if project complexity merits their involvement. However, general hydro consultants with an appropriate track record may also undertake an assessment of this type.
4.3.2 Fisheries
 Hydro-installations on rivers populated by migrating species of fish, such as salmon or trout, are subject to special requirements as defined in the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act.
Migratory fish must not be ingested into the turbine (so the mesh of the trashrack must be fine enough), and there must be a water passage by-passing the hydro-plant at all times so that fish can migrate up or downstream. To allow fish to pass upstream sometimes requires the construction of a 'fish ladder', which is usually a series of pools one above the other, with water overflowing from the higher ones to the lower ones, so that fish can jump up from one pool to the next.
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