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Advice to Jonathan Dean

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Enquiry

From
Jonathan Dean
Date advice given
9 February 2023
Enquiry type
Email

The enquirer queried whether Section 172 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and Schedule 4 Paragraph 10 of the Electricity Act 1989 could be used to gain access to land in the course of preparing a Development Consent Order application.

Advice given

The Planning Inspectorate has a duty, under s51 of the Planning Act 2008, to provide advice about applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) and making representations about an application, or a proposed application, for such an order. Those seeking to apply for a DCO or those seeking to make a representation in relation to a DCO application should have regard to our advice contained within our suite of Advice Notes accessible on our website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/advice-notes/. In response to your specific question about whether an applicant seeking development consent can use s172 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (as amended by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017) instead of s53 of the Planning Act 2008 to gain access to land, the Planning Inspectorate’s advice regarding this matter is addressed in Section 6 of the ‘Section 53: Rights of entry FAQs’ on the National Infrastructure Planning website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/frequently-asked-questions/section-53-faq/#6. The Planning Inspectorate cannot provide legal advice, therefore any questions you raise that require interpretation beyond the advice contained in our FAQ advice should be appropriately directed to those that are able to do so.