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Advice to Chattisham and Hintlesham Parish

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Enquiry

From
Chattisham and Hintlesham Parish
Date advice given
25 July 2012
Enquiry type
Post

Chattisham and Hintlesham Parish Council sent the Planning Inspectorate a copy of correspondence sent to the applicant for the Bramford to Twinstead proposal, currently at pre-application. The correspondence was in regard to the applicant's Connection Options Report, and resolutions passed by Chattisham and Hintlesham Parish Council and certain other statutory consultees over total undergrounding of the proposed development.

The Planning Inspectorate's response was by letter.

Advice given

Thank you for your letter enclosing correspondence from Chattisham and Hintlesham Parish Council to National Grid about their Connection Options Report and proposed undergrounding for the Bramford to Twinstead project.

We appreciate being kept informed by stakeholders about Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. Your letter is useful for us to monitor emerging issues and any actions undertaken by statutory consultees in response to a pre-application proposal.

As you will be aware, however, The Planning Inspectorate can accept this letter for information purposes only. If the application is formally submitted to the Inspectorate an Examining Inspector will first assess whether the developer has met certain tests, having taken account of any adequacy of consultation representations from Local Authorities, under section 55 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011). We have 28 days to complete this and decide whether to ?accept? the application to proceed to examination.

Should the application proceed to ?examination?, you will have the opportunity to register with us to participate in the examination and make formal written and oral representations and evidence to the appointed Examining authority.

I have included a copy of our Advice Note 8.1 that deals with how and when to make your views known on proposed projects and would highlight that responding to the developer?s pre-application consultation is the best time to influence a project and make any suggestions to the developer about how the impacts of a project could be mitigated. Your letter to National Grid demonstrates your participation in this regard. It is important, however, for stakeholders and statutory consultees to engage during ?formal? pre-application consultation, as the developer has a statutory duty to have regard to any written responses received.

For your information, I also enclose a copy of notes of the last two meetings we have facilitated at the request of local authorities and other local groups.

If you have any queries about this letter or any of the information provided in the advice note/meeting notes, do not hesitate to contact me.