The Centre for Research in Environmental Appraisal and Management (CREAM) provides a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary approach to research evaluating the bio, physical, economic, and social impacts of projects, policies, and plans that affect the environment. The aims of CREAM are to undertake policy relevant interdisciplinary research on environmental management and natural resource issues; with the purpose of informing policy makers, the academic community, and professionals, about the problems facing different environments, and feasible environmental management solutions. CREAM also seeks to develop the theory, methodology, and techniques of environmental appraisal and policy analysis, to ensure a deeper and more sophisticated assessment of environmental impacts across the four elements.

Research undertaken in CREAM has made important theoretical and applied contributions in environmental valuation. Theoretical contributions to environmental economics have been made to estimating benefits through contingent valuation methods (CVM), hedonic price models (HPM), and travel-cost models (TCM). Main achievements include the first applications in Britain of CVM, the individual TCM, stated preference (SP), and contingent ranking (CR) techniques to estimate environmental benefits. CREAM has set standards and practices in this area of environmental economics research which have been widely emulated subsequently be other practitioners. It is one of the acknowledged leaders in research into valuation methodology in the UK.

Research within CREAM has had major policy impacts in a number of areas: forestry, environmental appraisal, agri-environmental policies and water resources. Its research is currently being used by the British Waterways, DETR, DFID, Development Board for Rural Wales, English Nature, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Home Office, London Electricity, London Transport, MAFF, National Grid plc, various Police Authorities, Scottish Office Development Department, Scottish Power, Water Research Centre.

CREAM maintains contact and has engaged in collaborative work with researchers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and the USA, and in other European countries through the American and European Associations of Environmental and Resource Economists. Within the University of Newcastle, members of CREAM also work on joint projects with staff in other Departments of Newcastle University, and with research groups including the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), the Transport Operations Research Group (TORG), the Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research (CLUWRR), and the Centre for Rural Economy.

CREAM publishes its research findings as Research Reports and as refereed journal articles. Research Reports present the complete findings of externally funded research contracts awarded to members of CREAM. With the agreement of sponsors and clients, results are also published in refereed journals, to disseminate the research more widely and ensure academic validation of the methodology. Articles have been published or are forthcoming in Aestimum, Applied Economics, Biodiversity and Conservation, Biological Conservation, Cities, Computers & Geosciences, Disasters, Ecological Economics, Energy Policy, Environment and Planning, Environment & Resource Economics, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Forestry, Genio Rurale, Geographical Analysis, Geoforum, Geographical Information Systems, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Environmental Management, Journal of Forest Economics, Journal of Forest Policy and Economics, Journal of Housing Research, Journal of Property Research, Journal of Rural Studies, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, Land Economics, Landscape and Urban Planning, Landscape Research, Leisure Sciences, Medit, Regional Studies, Rivista di economia agraria, The Statistician, Transportation Research, Urban Studies, Utilities Policy, Water Resources Development, World Development, World Forest Resource Management, etc., aimed at developing particular theoretical, methodological and policy analysis issues in environmental appraisal. Electronic research papers are also often available from the Social Science Research Network, and from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers. The international Journal of Environmental Planning and Management published by Taylor & Francis of London, is edited and managed within CREAM.