Glossary

Planning

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Amenity Area Communal space within the boundaries of a project intended for leisure purposes which may include landscaped areas, communal lounges, swimming pools, etc.
Apartment Building A multiple dwelling comprising three (3) or more dwelling units with shared entrances and other essential facilities and services and with shared exit facilities provided for dwelling units, located above the first storey.
Basement Means a storey which has less than one-half of its height above ground level.
Buffer Zone A landscaped area, or other area separating two activities or sites, designed to prevent the intrusion of negative impact from one activity to another.
Building A structure with a roof intended for shelter.
Building Area The total area occupied by a building at ground level, excluding terraces, steps and ramps.
Building Line The prescribed distance which the façade of buildings facing the street, shall be set back from the centre line of that street.
Car Port An accessory structure of portion of a principal structure consisting of a roof and supporting members such as columns or beams, unenclosed from the ground to the roof, on at least two sides and designed or used for the storage of motor vehicles, owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory.
Community Facilities Facilities common to the whole development, including such things as community halls, shopping, medical and dental clinics and other similar facilities.
Developer The owner or any authorized person who intends to improve or carry out improvements upon a property.
Development The carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or land.
Development Plan This refers to the document produced to guide development at the special area, local, urban, rural, regional or national levels. It examines inter-alia demographic, social, economic and physical characteristics of the area and land use.
Driveway Is an access way from a public street or roadway to dwelling units, garage compound, parking areas, service areas of buildings, etc.
Dwelling Unit A room or rooms connected together, forming an independent housekeeping unit for a family and containing a single kitchen.
One Family Dwelling House/Unit
A building containing one dwelling unit.

Multi-Family Dwelling House/Unit
A building or group of attached buildings, other than a hotel.

Detached Dwelling House/Unit
A dwelling unit/house free standing on its lot with set-backs from al boundaries.

Semi-Detached Dwelling Houe/Unit
A building containing two units separated by a boundary wall and with each section having a separate lot.

Duplex Dwlling House/Unit
Two dwelling units one above the other or side by side on the same lot.
Eaves The portion of the roof of a structure which projects beyond the exterior building wall or line.
Ecologically Sensitive Area Means an area which serves a critical role in the ecological balance and which is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and human impacts.
Environmental Impact Assessment Means a comprehensive environmental study involving data gathering, prediction of impacts, comparison of alternatives and mitigative actions, and framing of recommendations relating to a specific development (proposal).
Environmental Impact Statement Means a brief examination of the environmental implications of each new project, which is used to determine whether or not a full environmental study is needed.
Habitable Room Any room or space intended primarily for human occupancy, other than kitchens, bathrooms, verandahs, laundry, carports, store-rooms, etc.
Non-Habitable Room A room designed for sanitary facilities, storage, kitchen, or other uses not intended primarily for human occupancy.
Outline Application An application for permission related to selected aspects of development which allows for any other aspects not included in the application to be subsequently reviewed.
Outline Permission Means permission given on outline application.
Planning Permission Permission for development which is required by virtue of section 1.2 of the Town and Country Planning Act (Law 42 of 1957).
Public Open Space Land which is not in private ownership and is open to use by the public.
Public Way Any street, highway, alley, pedestrian way, bridge, easement, right-of-way or other way in which the public has a right of use for passage.
Seeding And Phasing Number of lots that are to be developed within a given time period in a specific section of a subdivision.
Set-Back The distance of the forward most part of the building from any of the property boundaries.
Shop A building used for the carrying on of any retail trade or retail business wherein the primary purpose is the selling of goods by retail and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes a building used for the purpose of a hairdresser, undertaker, travel agency or as the receiving office for goods to be washed, cleaned or repaired, or for any other purposes appropriate to a shopping area, but does not include a building used as fund-fair, garages, petrol-filling station, office or bank premises.
Street Any public right-of-way for vehicular purposes.
Subdivision This is the laying out of land for building or sale, or the erection of a house or building on a parcel land in such a manner that it may become one of two or more buildings or houses.
Urban Renewal The planned re-development of deteriorated and deteriorating areas so as to create better communities and eliminate and prevent slums and blight.
Zoning This is the demarcation of land for various uses.

Environment

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Agenda 21 A document adopted by the UN Conference on Environment and Development meeting in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, representing a programme for the twenty-first century. The conference was held on the twentieth anniversary of the UN Conference on Human Environment, which met in Stockholm in June 1972.
Alternatives In EIA, an examination of alternative locations, methods, and techniques for a particular project, includes the alternative of not proceeding. It may be demonstrated that a project is not actually needed if demand-management approaches (for example, curbing the demand for water or electricity) are adopted or strengthened. At regional and national levels, a choice of polices, plans and programmes, may be presented, with a range of environmental impacts and mitigation measures.
Applicant The proponent or developer seeking approval or consent for a proposed activity/development, or seeking the issue of a permit or licence.
Biological diversity Or biodiversity, an umbrella term to describe collectively the variety and variability of nature. It encompasses three basic levels of organization in living systems: the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Plant and animal species are the most commonly recognized units of biological diversity, thus public concern has been mainly devoted to conserving species diversity. This has led to efforts to conserve endangered species and to establish specifically protected areas. However sustainable human economic activity depends upon understanding, protecting, and maintaining the world’s many interactive, diverse ecosystems with their complex networks of species and their vast storehouses of genetic information.
Conservation Defined by the World Conservation Strategy of 1980 as “the management of human use of the biosphere so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations.” Conservation is, therefore, something positive embracing preservation, maintenance, sustainable utilization, restoration, and enhancement of the natural environment. This theme was further endorsed by the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) in its 1987 report to the UN.
Cumulative effects Progressive environmental degradation over time arising from a range of activities throughout an area or region, each activity considered in isolation being possibly not a significant contributor. Such effects might arise from a growing volume of vehicles, multiple sources of power generation or incineration, or increasing application of chemicals to the land. The solution is better regional planning and control.
Decision-maker The body or person responsible for deciding whether a project shall proceed or not, or proceed subject to conditions and constraints. The decision-maker is usually an elected body or responsible agency or minister, the decision-making being essentially a function of government.
Developer The initiator of a project; also called the proponent, or applicant for development consent.
Development The application of human, financial, and physical resources to satisfy human needs; inevitably, development involves modification of the biosphere and some aspects of development detract from the quality of life locally, regionally, nationally, or globally. The breadth of development is not always appreciated as the word applies not only to the growth of industry, commerce and infrastructure, but to sanitation, education, medicine, health, housing, national parks, tourist and recreational facilities.
Ecosystem The plants and animals of an ecological community, and their environment, forming an interacting system of activities and functions regarded as a unit. There are innumerable ecosystems: for example, marine, fresh-water, terrestrial, forest, and grassland. All ecosystems together comprise the biosphere, that part of the Earth’s crust and atmosphere inhabited by living things. Ecology is the study of the relationship between an animal or plant and its surrounding.
Endangered species Fauna and flora likely to become extinct as a result of direct exploitation by humans, intrusion into highly specialized habitats, threats from other species, interruption of the food chain, pollution, or a combination of such factors.
Environment A concept which includes all aspects of the surroundings of humanity, affecting individuals and social groupings. The EC has defined the environment as “the combination of elements whose complex inter-relationships make up the settings, the surroundings and the conditions of life of the individual and of society, as they are so as they are felt.” The environment may be regarded as a parcel of things which render a stream of beneficial services and some disservices to people, though largely unpriced, and which take their place alongside the stream of goods and services rendered by real income, houses, infrastructure, transport, and other people.
Environmental health impact assessment (EHA) The subset of EIA, an assessment of the impacts on the environment and people of aspects of a project recognized as having potentially adverse heath effects. In 1982, WHO recommended that EHIA studies should be conducted for all major development projects. Many consider that the adverse effects of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, such as the spread of bilharzias, were neglected in the EIA.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) The critical appraisal of the likely effects of a policy, plan, program, project, or activity, on the environment. To assist the decision-making authority, assessments are carried out independently of the proponent, who may have prepared an EIS. The decision-making authority might be a level of government (local, state, or federal) or a government agency (at local, state, or federal level). Assessments take account of any adverse environmental effects on the community; any diminution of the aesthetic, scientific, or other environmental values of a locality; the endangering of any species of fauna or flora; any adverse effect on any place or building having aesthetic, anthropological, archaeological, cultural, historical, scientific, or social significance; any long term or cumulative effects on the environment; any curtailing of the range of beneficial uses; any environmental problems associated with the disposal of wastes; any implications for natural resources; and the implication for the concept of sustainable development. EIA extends to the entire process from the entire process from the inception of a proposal to environmental auditing and PPA.
Environmental management A concept of care applied to individual premises, corporate enterprises, localities, regions, catchments, natural resources, areas of high conservation value, lifetime cycles, waste handling and disposal, cleaner processing and recycling systems, with the purpose of protecting the environment in the broadest sense. It involves the identification of objectives, the adoption of appropriate mitigation measures, the protection of ecosystems, the enhancement of the quality of life for those affected, and the minimization of environmental costs.
Habitat Or living space; all the things, which collectively make up the place in which organisms, creatures or humans live. Habitat includes non-living influences such as soils, light, temperature, humidity and other abiotic factors; and biotic factors dependent on the activities of individuals and communities. In 1976, a UN conference on human settlements took the title “Habitat.”
Hazard and risk assessment An essential component of many EISs. Such an assessment embraces the potentially adverse effects of a project involving fire, heat, blast, explosion or food, arising from a manufacturing plant or transportation system. An assessment reveals hazards to life and limb and property, and is expressed in the form of risk probability. Safety depends on the location of a plant, the safety precautions, back-up arrangements adopted, and the degree of training and alertness in the plant. Buffer zones and correct routing of vehicles are also essential.
Health Defined by WHO as "state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." However, most assessments of health still rely upon morbidity and mortality statistics, such as infant and child mortality rates, and average expectations of life in different countries.
Mitigation measures Action taken to prevent, avoid, or minimize the actual or potential adverse effects of a policy, plan, programme, or project. Measures might include abandoning or modifying a proposal, or relocating it, substitution of techniques; cleaner methods; recycling; pollution control methods; closure of older plant; land-scaping and rehabilitation; acquisition of properties; and better programming.
Monitoring A combination of observation and measurement for the performance of a project and its compliance with development consent conditions. Instrumentation might be required in relation to air, water, and land pollutants; noise and blasting; radiation; transportation movements; and land subsidence. Records might be required for materials movements, raw materials, products, wastes, complaints and investigations, instrument and analysis results.
Natural Resource Valuation A series of techniques that economists use to assess the economic value of market and non-market goods, namely natural resources and resource services.
Precautionary principle A guiding rule in EIA to protect people and the environment against future risks, hazards, and adverse impacts, tending to emphasize safety considerations in the occasional absence of clear evidence.
Project A proposed installation, factory, works, mine, highway, airport, or scheme, and all activities with possible impacts on the environment.
Proponent The proposer (or applicant) of an activity, policy, plan, program, or project in the private or public sectors; a proposal usually requires official approval or consent and during the process of obtaining this, the public have increasing opportunities to voice opinions of support and objection.
Public inquiry or hearing An opportunity for members of the public, voluntary bodies, and government agencies, to express opinion before an independent and impartial commissioner of inquiry, to enable issues about a controversial proposed development to be fully discussed. The usual outcome is the submission of a report by the commissioner with recommendations to a decision-making body or minister, the report becoming immediately a public document. The success of the public inquiry hinges upon the choice, integrity and independence of the commissioner; and upon a political and social context, which encourages full participation by all citizens, without fear of reprisal or discrimination. The public inquiry often stands at the apex of EIA processes.
Quality of life In current usage, a concept embracing a miscellany of desirable things not always recognized, or adequately recognized, in the marketplace. It embraces such highly relevant matters as real income, housing and working conditions, health, and education services and recreational opportunities, which might be regarded as the general standard of living. Other highly relevant matters include community relationships, race relationships, civil liberties, compassion, justice, freed on, and fair play, safety and security, law and order, and environmental conditions.
Sanitation An important health-related branch of development embracing drainage and sewage, sewage and sullage treatment and effluent disposal, safe and adequate domestic water supplies, avoidance of public nuisances and controlled tipping, and drainage facilities for floodwater and surface run-off. Few countries renowned for high-tech achievements have been able to resolve the basic requirements of sanitation, relying on primitive methods (or none).
Scoping A procedure, carried out as early as possible, to help ensure that an EA focuses on key environmental issues associated with a proposed activity or development; scoping involves meeting between the proponent and planning or environmental agencies, members of the public, and other interests likely to be affected. The result should determine the scope and depth of the significant issues to be examined in the forthcoming EIS.
Strategic EIA The application of EIA not only to individual projects, but to policies, plans, programmes, activities, and regional land-use objectives. There is a growing conviction that matters cannot be completely resolved at project level when many matters have been decided already at a higher level. Matters difficult or impossible to settle at the project level relate to the cumulative effects of other projects within the same or related programs; to transportation decisions governing the modal split between road and rail movement; to energy policies relating to power generation; to greenhouse strategies; and to natural resource conservation and management.

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