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Advice to Forewind

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Enquiry

From
Forewind
Date advice given
8 March 2013
Enquiry type
Email

At our meeting on 15 November, we were told that it would not be possible for the Planning Inspectorate to confirm that our list of section 42 consultees was complete in advance of us submitting an application. For obvious reasons, Forewind is keen to reduce any risk that we should not comply with the pre-application consultation requirements of the Planning Act and has made best endeavours to keep the list up-to-date since the IPC provided us with our Regulation 9 list in November 2010.

As I am sure you are aware, this is a rather difficult task as there is no central repository of information about whether there is a successor body for those that cease to exist and similarly, in the case of CABE for example, when a body is re-instated as a statutory body. We are also finding it very difficult to determine which gas and electricity licence holders we must consult as the lists on Ofgem?s website are extensive and not geographically mapped.

Having taken legal advice, we believe that the Planning Inspectorate should support us in confirming that our list of section 42 (1) a consultees is complete and accurate as these consultees are prescribed by the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 (the APFP Regulations). Could you please let me know whether the Planning Inspectorate?s position on this has changed? At the very least could the Planning Inspectorate provide an updated list of consultees as per the APFP Regulations that we can cross reference our list with?

I attach an updated list and would appreciate a statement from the Planning Inspectorate either confirming that the list is correct or detailing any amendments that need to be made.

Advice given

Dear Nikki, many thanks for your email dated 20 February - I have the following information for you which I trust will be of use:

As you will be aware, s51 of the Planning Act 2008 provides power to give advice about making an application. The position remains however that there is no duty imposed by the Planning Act to confirm that consultation is complete, in effect to certify that consultation has been carried out in accordance with the Planning Act before an application is submitted. This is because such a decision is the Secretary of State's when applying the tests under s55 (3) (e).

It is the applicant's duty to identify all those bodies who need to be consulted and as there is no prescribed list which applies in all circumstances an element of judgement will be required. PINS Advice Note 3 provides further advice and I would reiterate that where there is discretion to be applied (for example in the case of statutory undertakers) it is important to explain what approach has been taken to identifying such bodies in the consultation report. I have provided a link to the Advice Note below. If we have identified an alternative appropriate consultee we are of course happy to provide s51 advice in relation to specific bodies identified in the APFP Schedule which no longer exist.

http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Advice-note-3v3.pdf