Registering to have your say about a national infrastructure project

Contents

Who can register

Anyone can register to have their say, including:

• members of the public from the local area or anywhere in the UK
• members of the public from other countries
• organisations such as local authorities, parish councils, local bodies and authorities such as Natural England and the Environment Agency
• charities, local action groups and businesses

When to register

Registration will be open for at least 30 days for each project, during the pre-examination stage. This is the preparation stage for the examination of the application. You must register during this time to get your interested party reference number and make sure your comments are taken into account.

The developer will advertise when the project has been accepted for examination. They must also give details about when registration opens and closes for the project and how you can register.

What you need to register

To register, you will need to give us your:

• full name
• address, email and telephone number
• your comments about the project

After you register, you will be given a reference number. This reference number will become your interested party reference number. Your name and comments will be published on our website. Your address, email address and phone number will be kept private. You can view our privacy notice for more information (opens a new tab).

You must include comments with your registration. Your comments must be about what you consider to be the main issues and impacts. You should include as much detail as possible and cover anything that may affect your day-to-day life.

After you have registered

Once you have registered to have your say, your name and comments will be published on the project information page for each project. Once the registration period closes, you can see all of the other registration comments (also known as relevant representations) from other people.

Once the examination of the application starts, you will be able to submit more information at the deadlines in the timetable. You can do this using the online submission form in the specific project section of this website.

Register to have your say

The deadline for registering will be in the developer's advert, or you can check the project page.

More detailed advice

If you need more detailed advice, you can check our advice notes for more information.

Read the full set of advice notes (opens in a new tab)

Next Get involved in the preliminary meeting

Part of Have your say about a national infrastructure project

1. 1 Taking part at the pre-application stage

   Pre-application is the first stage of the process. This is where the applicant must consult with people and organisations. The applicant must provide information about how you can submit your comments to them. It is important to get involved at this stage as you can influence the application before the applicant sends it to the Planning Inspectorate.

   1. Taking part before the application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

2. 2 Registering to have your say about a national infrastructure project

   To get involved after the application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, you must register to have your say at the pre-examination stage. Pre-examination is where we prepare for an examination. We will identify an inspector or a panel of inspectors called the Examining Authority and make a plan for the examination stage. Registration is open for at least 30 days. The pre-examination stage takes about 3 months.

   1. How to register to have your say about a national infrastructure project.

3. 3 Get involved in the preliminary meeting

   In the months after the registration period closes, the Examining Authority will hold a preliminary meeting. This meeting is to discuss the main issues the Examining Authority will be examining, and the timetable for the examination stage.

   1. What you can do at the preliminary meeting.

4. 4 Have your say during the examination of the application

   At this stage the Examining Authority asks questions about the proposed development. The applicant and anyone who has registered to have their say can make comments by the deadlines in the examination timetable. Anyone can attend hearings that may take place during this stage. The examination can take up to 6 months.

   1. Submitting comments during the examination stage.

5. 5 What you can do after the decision has been made

   Once a decision is made by the relevant Secretary of State, there is a 6 week period where people can challenge the decision in the High Court. This is called a judicial review.

   1. What happens after a decision has been made?