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Advice to Mr and Mrs Crossland

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Enquiry

From
Mr and Mrs Crossland
Date advice given
12 October 2012
Enquiry type
Email

Mr and Mrs Crossland requested information regarding the examination of the Port Blyth New Biomass Plant.

Advice given

Dear Mr and Mrs Crossland,

thank-you for your email dated 12 October - I will answer questions in the order which you have asked them and trust the information will be of use:

  1. 'Where are the Northumberland responses to first questions, as asked in the Rule 8 Letter annex D? I cannot find them on NIP website. I can Find Port of Blyth responses etc, but not NCC.'

Northumberland County Council (NCC) is yet to respond to the questions posed by the Examining Inspector in the Rule 8 letter of 15 August 2012. NCC has advised The Planning Inspectorate that it still intends to submit a response. As the deadline for responses has now passed (26 September), it will be at the discretion of the Examining Inspector as to whether a response, if any, from NCC will be taken into account. This is in accordance with Rule 10 (8) of The Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 (the Examination Rules 2010) - a link to the Statutory Instrument is provided for your perusal below:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/103/article/10/made

If a response from NCC is received and accepted by the Examining Inspector, it will be published on The Planning Inspectorate's website as soon as reasonably practicable and in accordance with Rule 10(5) of the Examination Rules 2010.

  1. Who calls for an open floor hearing, or a specific issue hearing? Pins, any interested party? After repeatedly being told at all of the meetings so far attended, that this is not the time to discuss the merits of the proposal, we (looking at the inspection timetable) are puzzled as to when anyone can actually comment on the merits or otherwise of the project, in public.

Hopefully I can clarify this for you:

Open-floor hearings: These can be requested by anyone who has registered and made a relevant representation or by other interested parties . However, requests must be made by the deadline which is set by the Examining Inspector for an hearing to be caused. If not, then it is at the examining inspector's discretion.

In this instance, the Rule 8 letter 'notice of procedural decision made at and following the Preliminary Meeting' sent to all interested parties dated 15 August 2012 and the Rule 8(3) letter 'variation to the examination timetable' which amended the original Rule 8 letter, sent on 21 September 2012, set a deadline of 26 September 2012 for requests for an Open-floor Hearing (see item 4 in the timetable, Annex 1). We have not received any requests. If you do wish to request an Open-floor Hearing you should advise us as soon as possible and we will advise the Examining Inspector for his consideration.

Specific-issue hearings: These hearings are held only if the Examining Inspector considers they are necessary to ensure adequate examination of an issue or that an interested party has a fair chance to put forward their case. At an issue specific hearing, any interested party can make representations about the issue being considered.

Links to the letters issued can be found below:

Rule 8 letter of 15 August 2012: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/EN010016/2.%20Post-Submission/Procedural%20Decisions/120815_EN010016_%20Rule%208%20Letter_FINAL.doc.pdf ;and

Rule 8(3) letter of 21 September 2012: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/EN010016/2.%20Post-Submission/Procedural%20Decisions/120920_EN010016_Rule%208(3)%20Letter_FINAL.doc.pdf

  1. Our submitted questions at the preliminary meeting, and included in our written representation, when will they be responded to (if at all) by the applicant? Or will these be included in the second written questions asked by the examiner?

The deadline for receipt by the Examining Inspector of, amongst other things, comments on Written Representations is 24 October 2012. It will be for the applicant to consider whether it wishes to respond and any responses received will be published on The Planning Inspectorate's website as soon as reasonably practicable following the deadline.

I hope this answers your queries; I have attached a link to our Advice Note 8.5: 'Participating in the examination' which I hope proves useful.

http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Advice-note-8.5.pdf

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us