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Advice to Rosemary Lewis

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Enquiry

From
Rosemary Lewis
Date advice given
19 April 2024
Enquiry type
Email

Dear Mr Harold I am writing to you about concerns that you have raised with the PVDP but which appear to have been ignored. Firstly, I refer to your advice note to PVDP dated 24 January 2024 I quote from your note: “The Applicant sought advice about plan scaling due to the size of the Proposed Development site, informing that it was including an overarching plan of 1:25000, with insets of a 1:2500 scale. The Inspectorate advised that plan scales should align with the requirements of the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009, and referred the Applicant to Section 12 ‘Scale of plans and drawings’ of Advice Note 6. The Applicant discussed whether ‘interactive plans’ of the Proposed Development may be used to aid users to zoom in to see greater detail than provided with a PDF due to pixelation. The Inspectorate advised that it is unable to host digital plans at the current time as part of the application submission.“ I would like it to be noted that, in the Statutory Consultation which ended on 8th February 2024, PVDP failed to provide ANY maps at the required scale of 1:2,500. The best scale used for the master plans was 1:10,000 ie one quarter of the required size (with most other maps at a scales ranging from 1:65,000 to 1:100,000) and too small to identify many key items of infrastructure eg fencing, cameras, inverters, substations, security lights, tracks, construction compounds, etc. Your advice note goes on to say; “The Inspectorate advised that it is unable to host digital plans at the current time as part of the application submission. The Applicant informed that it would produce a suite of ‘other drawings’ which would include indicative detail to ensure appropriate detail was secured in the DCO.” I assume this means that you are expecting the applicant to provide hard copy maps at a scale of 1:2,500 when they submit their DCO and ES later this year. Please can you confirm this? I understand that I can register as an interested party when PVDP have submitted their application but my question is, how do I view these revised plans and 1:2,500 maps? Will hard copies of the maps be available for viewing at the Inspectorate’s office? If not, can the applicant be required to display them publicly at a repeat consultation since full consideration of the plans was denied to me at the statutory consultation 30 Nov 23 - 8 Feb 24 Secondly, I refer to your advice note to PVDP dated 13 September 2023 The Inspectorate advised that the development on the green belt and the very special circumstances which the Applicant considered relevant must be clearly addresses in the application and was likely to be a key examination matter. The applicant confirmed it would be including a section about consideration of alternatives within the PEIR. …… Areas should be considered in relation to the infrastructure and location of the site, to show the impact on the environment has been kept to a minimum. The PEIR included NO justification of the “very special circumstances for development on Green Belt” The only “consideration of alternatives” was “doing nothing”, NO investigation of nearby brownfield sites Additionally, much other vital information was completely missing from the PEIR and the number (18) and quality of photomontages was totally inadequate. The response of PVDP’s spokesman, Mark Owen-Lloyd, when challenged at the Statutory Consultation about this was to say that “absolutely everything would be included in the ES when the DCO application is made.” So, as with the maps, I would also like to know where and how I can access this information in hard copy form once the DCO and ES application has been submitted Finally, I note from your January meeting notes that “The Applicant and the Inspectorate to schedule the next update meeting for post- statutory consultation in late February”. Has this happened yet and when will the notes appear on the section 51 advice on the PINS website? I look forward to receiving your answers to my questions. With thanks Yours sincerely Rosemary Lewis Resident of Church Hanborough, Oxfordshire

Advice given

Dear Rosemary, Many thanks for your email, which addresses a number of concerns regarding the proposed Botley West Solar Farm application. In respect of your feedback on the developer’s consultation, please note that the Planning Inspectorate does not formally consider feedback on the adequacy of a developer’s statutory pre-application consultation until an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) has been received. If you have concerns about the developer’s pre-application consultation, you should contact the developer - Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) on behalf of SolarFive Ltd - in the first instance to enable them to address the issues: Email: info@botleywest.co.uk Telephone: 0808 175 3085 If you have contacted the developer but you are not satisfied that they have, or will, take account of your comments, you can make your comments to the relevant local authority. The Planning Inspectorate will request the relevant local authorities’ view on the adequacy of the developer’s consultation when the application is submitted. Further information about the pre-application consultation process can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/418009/150326_Pre-Application_Guidance.pdf Regarding the availability of plans and other documents during pre-application consultation, Regulation 4 of the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 (APFP Regulations) sets out that the developer must make available the documents, plans and maps showing the nature and location of the Proposed Development for inspection free of charge on a website maintained by or on behalf of the developer. It may be that developers also choose to make a physical suite of application documents available at one or more deposit locations, however this is not a legislative requirement. In terms of requirements regarding the size/ scale of plans, please note that the APFP Regulations set out such requirements, however this applies to the documents that form part of the DCO application which is yet to be submitted. As such, I would advise that any feedback regarding the plans used for pre-application consultation should again be addressed to the developer in the first instance. Developers will only submit physical suites of DCO application documents to the Planning Inspectorate if specifically requested to by the Planning Inspectorate, but if accepted for Examination, the DCO application documents would be available to all parties to inspect free of charge on the Planning Inspectorate’s website, and it is also customary for the Planning Inspectorate to publish information regarding locations where the application documents can be viewed electronically for those who cannot easily access a computer. If parties wish to request hard copies of DCO application documents following the submission of the application, such a request would need to be made to the developer at that time, who may charge a fee. Finally, a note of the meeting held between the developer and the Planning Inspectorate following the developer’s statutory consultation exercise has now been published on the project webpage, and you will see from this note that the Applicant has been advised that it should thoroughly demonstrate regard to the concerns raised by parties during its statutory consultation. Kind regards George Harrold Case Manager