Advice to Philip Collins
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- From
- Philip Collins
- Date advice given
- 11 December 2014
- Enquiry type
See attached letter
Advice given
Thank you for your letter dated the 3 December addressed to Mrs Wood. The Examining authority will not enter into correspondence directly with an interested party therefore I am replying to the points raised.
The Inspectorate did not issue any section 51 advice to the developer in respect of the submission of the mitigation option and the details of the option were not discussed with the developer. The phone call that Mr Houghton refers to is a call between the project manager for Navitus Bay limited and the PINS case manager, where PINS was alerted to the fact that documentation would be submitted as part of deadline III that would include, amongst other things, details of a potential mitigation option. A discussion took place on how the documents would be best practically delivered (i.e. by email and/or physical mail and the timing for PINS to accept those documents).
Discussions regarding the details of the mitigation option have not been held with the developer outside of the public arena of hearings or the written examination process.
You are correct that the date of the 14 January does not appear in our letter of the 21 November or in the revised timetable on the PINS website. This is because the Examining authority aims to make the decision on or by the 14 January, however the examining authority can make a procedural decision at any time before or after the preliminary meeting, as stated in s89(3) of the Planning Act 2008. Rule 9 of The Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 states that ?As soon as practicable after making any procedural decision, the Examining authority must notify all interested parties of the decision.?
You are correct the revised timetable regarding the issue specific hearing on the 22 January as shown on the PINS website was inconsistent with our letter of the 21 November in that the words ?Date reserved? had been omitted from the description. This has now been amended.
No other changes to the timetable have been made since 18 November 2014 and as detailed in our letter of the 21 November. I can also confirm that no discussions between the Developer or its agents with PINS regarding details of any options or evidence, other than those of a practical nature on the best way to deliver documents, has taken place between outside the public arena of the hearings or written communications.