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Advice to Norfolk County Council

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Enquiry

From
Norfolk County Council
Date advice given
25 February 2015
Enquiry type
Email

Further to last week?s preliminary meeting please could you clarify whether the County Council will be expected to attend the Examination Inquiry on the dates set out in the Rule 6 letter (29/4 ? 30/4), given that the only outstanding issue the County Council has in respect of highway matters has been agreed with the applicant (i.e. the County Council has recommended a series of highway conditions/requirements to be attached to the final Development Control Order and the applicant has agreed to these). I will be submitting a LIR shortly and the applicant is leading on a Statement of Common Ground.

I would welcome your advice regarding whether attendance (a) is necessary and (b) if considered necessary when this would be.

Advice given

Thank you for your email enquiring whether Norfolk County Council will be expected to attend the Examination Hearings on the dates set out in the Rule 6 letter.

Although it can be helpful to the running of the examination for parties to attend relevant hearings, there is no requirement to do so. The Planning Act 2008 regime is primarily a written process and, therefore, it is open to you to provide your views and evidence in the form of a Local Impact Report (either individually of jointly with the Borough Council), Written Representation, Statement of Common Ground, or in your response to the Examining Authority?s questions.

In this case the examination includes two Issue Specific Hearings (ISHs); one on the Draft Development Consent order, and one focusing on Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) issues, but which may include other matters. A hearing agenda will normally be published on the project page of the planning portal website approximately a week before the hearings, providing more detail as to the issues to be discussed.

It is ultimately a matter for you to decide whether or not it is necessary to attend the hearings to give evidence/ clarification orally, in addition to what you will have provided in writing, and given the relevance of the issues that are to be discussed.

I hope the above is of assistance.