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Advice to Thorpe Marsh Gas Pipeline Thorpe Marsh Limited

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Enquiry

From
Thorpe Marsh Gas Pipeline Thorpe Marsh Limited
Date advice given
24 September 2013
Enquiry type
Email

Request from the applicant to review draft Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC)

Advice given

The Inspectorate made following obesrvations on the applicant's draft SoCC:

  1. In the ?Summary Statement of Community Consultation? you have included a statement that the proposed development is considered to be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development. You may wish to include the same statement clearly in the content of your SoCC for consistency.

  2. We note that you are currently waiting for comments on the content of your SoCC from the relevant local authorities, with a deadline for receipt of 25 September 2013. We note that the letter inviting local authorities to comment on the SoCC is dated the 27 August 2013, therefore the statutory minimum period of 28 days for comment would appear to have been provided.

  3. We note that in your SoCC and summary SoCC you use the terms ?formal? and ?informal? (see paragraph 5.1) as well as ?technical consultation? (see paragraph 4.9). In the interests of clarity we advise you to use the terms ?statutory? and ?non-statutory?, where appropriate, when describing the relevant stages of consultation throughout the document. Furthermore, it is useful for applicants to use consistent terminology between their SoCC and Consultation Report. It is for the applicant to determine how to explain their consultation approach. However, it must be clear which stages of consultation were ?statutory? and ?non- statutory? and under which sections of the Planning Act 2008 they were undertaken.

  4. We note that when listing the Parish Councils in the table below paragraph 4.6 of the SoCC, the letters ?D?, ?E? and ?S? are used to denote which local authority they are situated in (Doncaster Metropolitan District Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Selby District Council respectively). However, this may not be immediately apparent to some. Therefore consideration should be given to using more than just the first letter of the name of the host authority for clarity. Moreover, s.43 of the 2008 Act categorises local authorities into ?A?, ?B?, ?C? and ?D? authorities. Therefore, the use of a single letter of the alphabet to denote the location of the parish councils could be misconstrued for the categories used in s.43 of the Planning Act 2008.

  5. Paragraph 7.27 of the SoCC states that ?consultation documents can be made available in minority languages specify to the area. Large format and Braille options can also be made available of all literature?. You may wish to include more detail on how a person may request such documents.

  6. We note the use of abbreviations, such as the use of ?TIP Regs? in Appendix 1 of your SoCC. In the interests of clarity you might wish to consider avoiding the use of abbreviations where possible, or provide a glossary of terms. Please also note paragraph 38 of the DCLG Planning Act 2008: Guidance on pre-application process (2013) which states that: ?the applicant must set out clearly what is being consulted on? and that: ?the document should be written in clear, accessible and non-technical language?.

  7. Please note that a number of typographical errors have been identified in the SoCC document. It is therefore advisable that the document is reviewed and any and all errors addressed.

  8. Paragraph 7.6 of your SoCC refers to ?Stage 1 Consultation?. It is understood that at this stage you are intending to carry out consultation under both s.42 and s.47 of the Planning Act 2008. Please be aware that on or before commencing statutory consultation under s.42 you must provide the Secretary of State with notification under s.46 of the Planning Act 2008.

  9. We would also draw your attention to DCLG Planning Act 2008: Guidance on pre-application process (2013), which states ?where an iterative consultation is intended, it may be advisable for applicants to carry out the final stage of consultation with persons who have an interest in the land [As set out in section 44 of the Planning Act 2008] once they have worked up their project proposals in sufficient detail to identify affected land interests?.

  10. In more general terms, please note that it is advisable for all applicants to ensure that the summary of relevant responses received during the pre-application consultation is captured within the Consultation Report. In addition, all applicants are advised to explain how those responses influenced the proposal and how those changes were applied as a result of comments received (please see the Planning Inspectorate?s Advice Note 14 for further information).

  11. In addition to the above, please note that paragraph 31, DCLG Planning Act 2008: Guidance on pre-application process (2013) states that: ?where a local authority decides that it does not wish to respond to a consultation request on the Statement of Community Consultation, the applicant should make reasonable efforts to ensure that all affected communities are consulted.?