16th March 2012, 10:03 AM
It says in the article that 'Farmers will usually have to employ a professional consultant to evaluate the site, including aspects like archaeological importance, geophysical survey and ecological and visual impact assessments', which would suggest that the assessment would be undertaken by a commercial consultancy, rather than 'advisors' (by whom I assume you mean English Heritage or local government). I've never undertaken an EIA for ploughing up grassland, but I wouldn't have thought the process would be significantly different to that employed for an EIA for a windfarm or something. The article also says that only four EIAs were actually required last year, and of these only one was actually done, which suggests that even the professional consultants are unlikely to be getting fat off this type of work!
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum