Meeting with Progress Power Progress Power Limited
Back to listEnquiry
- Meeting with
- Progress Power Progress Power Limited
- Date of meeting
- 7 February 2014
- Enquiry type
- Meeting
During the outreach event on 22 January 2014, a query was raised into what constituted a 'relevant' local authority or parish council for the purpose of the applicants pre-application consultation.
Advice given
Following on from the Outreach event held in Diss on 22 January, we have looked into the matter of statutory consultees for this project in more depth in relation to parish councils and local authorities, with the aim of providing clarity to all parties. It remains for the applicant to ensure it has consulted correctly, however we hope this information assists all the attendees at the event given the questions raised.
The information includes which local authorities and parish councils we consider are classed as 'relevant', based on the information we have at present, for the purposes of statutory pre-application consultation, those bodies that we consider would be notified by the applicant of an accepted application for examination, and those that would be classed as automatic Interested Parties to an examination if an application was to be accepted in its current form. Please note that should an application be accepted for examination, the applicant would be required to make public notices of the acceptance decision.
It?s important to stress that any person or group can register to become an Interested Party for an examination. Details of how to register are provided in notices and notifications by the applicant, and no-one should feel excluded from the process. We are happy to provide further advice to anyone should they wish and our details are at the end of this email. I have also included links to our series of Advice Notes and to our new video which explain the process of involvement for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ('NSIPs'). I would be grateful if you could circulate this email to those who attended the Outreach event, and we will also shortly publish this on our website at the following location: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/projects/eastern/progress-power-station/?ipcsection=advice Local authorities and parish councils as pre-application statutory consultees:
At the pre-application stage, applicants are under a duty under s42 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) ('PA 2008') to consult statutory consultees about their proposals. These include, amongst others, local authorities and parish councils. The local authorities and parish councils, who will be consulted upon at this stage include: ? host local authorities (where the proposed development is situated in a local authorities area - known as either 'B' or 'C' authorities); and ? neighbouring local authorities to those host authorities (known as either 'A' or 'D' authorities). Parish councils which have responsibility for the location where the proposal may be sited are known as 'relevant' parish councils. Applicants are required to consult these parish councils at the statutory pre-application consultation stage. PINS are required to consult these parish councils on any scoping request made by the applicant and we did so during the scoping stage of the project. On 15 May 2013, the Planning Inspectorate received notification from the applicant, Progress Power Limited, under Regulation 6 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). This triggered the requirement for the Planning Inspectorate to produce a list under Regulation 9 of those regulations. On the basis of the information provided by the applicant in relation to this request, the following local authorities were identified by the Inspectorate as local authorities for the purposes of s42 consultation under the 'A', ?B?, ?C? & 'D' tests as prescribed in s43 PA 2008: Relevant Parish Councils: ? Thrandeston Parish Council ? Eye Town Council ? Yaxley Parish Council. Local Authorities: 'A' local authorities (local authorities which neighbour the 'host' local authority if that authority is a unitary council or a lower-tier district council): ? Waveney District Council; ? Suffolk Coastal District Council; ? Ipswich Borough Council; ? Babergh District Council; ? St Edmundsbury District Council; ? Breckland Council; ? South Norfolk Council; and ? Norfolk County Council. 'B' local authority (A 'host' unitary council or lower-tier district council): ? Mid-suffolk District Council. 'C' local authority (A 'host' upper-tier county council): ? Suffolk County Council. 'D' local authority (A local authority that is not a lower-tier district council which neighbours a 'host' upper-tier county council): ? Norfolk County Council; ? Essex County Council; and ? Cambridgeshire County Council. Notification of an accepted application - prescribed persons:
If and when an application is accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate, the developer is under a duty to give notice of this acceptance to, amongst others, 'host' and ?neighbouring? local authorities and 'relevant' parish councils. As part of the duty on developers to publicise an accepted application, the developer is required to set the period - being a minimum of 28 days - for the receipt by the Planning Inspectorate of relevant representations. A relevant representation should constitute, a brief, 500 word summary of the main, headline issues a party wishes to put towards the Examining authority (once appointed), allowing such issues to be fed into the initial assessment of principal issues. In submitting a relevant representation, the party doing so will consequentially be registered as an Interested Party to the examination of the project. This entitles the party to a legal status, allowing full participation within the examination e.g. to attend and speak at hearings and to submit further, written representations to the Examining Authority. Automatic IPS:
Some parties are automatically registered as Interested Parties, and therefore, not required to submit a relevant representation to the Planning Inspectorate. Such bodies include, but are not limited to:
? Local authorities whose land the proposed development falls within or 'host' local authorities (NB: this excludes parish councils).
Statutory Parties (which includes, but is not limited to, relevant parish councils) are not automatically registered as Interested Parties however they will be invited to the Preliminary Meeting to allow them to make representations to the Examining authority as to how the application is to be examined. Following on from this, the Rule 8 letter will be issued to all Interested Parties and to the said ?statutory parties? (s88 (3) (c ) or (d)). The statutory parties will then be invited to register as an Interested Party.
This means that the aforementioned 'host' local authorities (NB: not parish councils) will not need to register as an Interested Party through submitting a Relevant Representation by the deadline as set-out in the developer's acceptance notice, should the project be accepted for examination. However, the Planning Inspectorate still urges those bodies which are automatically classed as Interested Parties to submit a relevant representation to the Planning Inspectorate to ensure the views of such bodies are not missed by the Examining authority at such a key, early stage.
For further information regarding how the process works and how local authorities and parish councils can be involved please refer to the Advice Notes and information videos provided below.
Advice Notes:
8.1 (How the process works) - http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Advice-note-8-1v4.pdf
8.2 (Responding to the developers pre-application consultation) - http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Advice-note-8-2v3.pdf
8.3 (How to register and become an interested party in an application) - http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/advice-note-8.3.pdf
8.4 (Influencing how an application will be examined ? the Preliminary Meeting) - http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Advice-note-8-4v3.pdf
8.5 (Participating in the examination) - http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Advice-note-8-5v3.pdf
Information Videos:
A new video explaining the process is now available on our website at the following link:
http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/application-process/the-process/