17.— (1) Section 4 of the Act of 2000 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (i):

“(i) development consisting of the thinning, felling or replanting of trees, forests or woodlands or works ancillary to that development, but not including the replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species;”,

(ii) by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (i):

“(ia) development (other than where the development consists of provision of access to a public road) consisting of the construction, maintenance or improvement of a road (other than a public road) or works ancillary to such road development, where the road serves forests and woodlands;”,

(iii) in paragraph (l), by inserting “or works consisting of land reclamation or reclamation of estuarine marsh land and of callows, referred to in section 2 of that Act” after “the works are commenced”,

and

(b) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a), (i), (ia) and (l) of subsection (1) and any regulations under subsection (2), development shall not be exempted development if an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment of the development is required.

(4A) Notwithstanding subsection (4), the Minister may make regulations prescribing development or any class of development that is—

(a) authorised, or required to be authorised by or under any statute (other than this Act) whether by means of a licence, consent, approval or otherwise, and

(b) as respects which an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment is required,

to be exempted development.”.

(2) The amendment to section 4 of the Act of 2000 effected by subsection (1) shall not apply as respects development—

(a) begun prior to the commencement of this section, and

(b) completed not later than 12 months after such commencement,

unless, immediately before such commencement, the development was being carried on in contravention of the Act of 2000 or regulations under that Act.