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Advice to Beverley Wigg

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Enquiry

From
Beverley Wigg
Date advice given
5 June 2017
Enquiry type

It has come to my notice that the deadline for Consultation Bodies to respond to the above is 6th June.

What constitutes a Consultation Body?

We are a new action group set up to campaign against cable relay stations in unspoilt countryside. Since Vattenfall’s public consultation so far has been flawed, in terms of reach and transparency, we are playing ‘catch up’ with the planning process. It is not yet clear how we can make our voice be properly heard and I’m not sure whether this imminent deadline should have applied to us.

Please could you advise whether we should be consulting with you and if so on what basis?

Advice given

A consultation body (‘consultation body’) is defined under The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 (as amended) as:

• a body prescribed under s.42(a) and listed in column 1 of the table set out in Schedule 1 of the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedures) Regulations 2009 (‘the APFP Regulations’) as amended, where the circumstances set out in column 2 are satisfied in respect of that body • each authority that is within s.43 (‘local authorities’); and • if the land to which the application, or proposed application, relates or any part of that land is in Greater London, the Greater London Authority.

The Planning Inspectorate’s interpretation of this is explained in our Advice note three and its associated annexe which is available at the following link: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/advice-notes/

The action group you describe below would not be considered by the Planning Inspectorate to be a consultation body for the purposes of scoping. At the pre-application stage, we would therefore encourage you to contact the developer directly should you have any comments to make on the proposed development. Information on how you can be involved in the Planning Act 2008 process is contained within our Advice note 8 series which is also available at the link above.