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Advice to Anna Pickering

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Enquiry

From
Anna Pickering
Date advice given
10 December 2010
Enquiry type
Phone

Query regarding preliminary environmental information (PEI).

Advice given

IPC's Guidance Note 1 on the Pre-Application Stages (Chapter 2 of the Planning Act 2008) provides useful guidance on the timing and legislative requirements for PEI.

Guidance Note 1 was written to assist those involved in the preparation of applications for development consent on nationally significant infrastructure projects. Within the guidance note, the IPC has given its view on the most likely order for various procedural steps within the pre-applicant process, notably s47 of the Planning Act 2008.

See extract below from IPC Guidance Note 1, page 5: 's47 duty to first consult the local authority in respect of the Statement of Community Consultation (?SOCC?). The SOCC needs to state whether the proposal is EIA development and how the preliminary environmental information is to be consulted upon (Reg 10 of the EIA Regulations), and so when an applicant consults a local authority on the SOCC the local authority will need to have the preliminary environmental information (PEI is defined under Regulation 2 of the EIA Regulations 2009) available at that time so that its response can be an informed one. The consultation with local authorities under s42 and contact with local authorities on the SOCC under s47 can occur in parallel'.

The timing of the s42 (consultation with prescribed consultees, local authorities (LAs), landowners and others with interests in land and significantly affected persons) and s47 stages of consultation should be carefully considered as this may have a bearing on the level of detail provided within the PEI. For example, the LA may advise on early SOCC Consultation or the applicant may wish to benefit from early s42 consultation in order to take account of the fundamental EIA issues (such as flood risk) in the formulation of the scheme.

In either situation, it is for applicants to decide at what stage in the formulation of the scheme they wish to commence statutory pre-application consultation i.e. s42 & s47, and a point at which they feel consultation will be most effective. The applicant should bear in mind that if consulting the LA on the SOCC at an early stage in the process they may not at that time have compiled detailed information on the PEI. Furthermore, the LA's comments on how to consult on the PEI may not be fully informed. Some applicants are applying a two-stage (or multi-stage) approach to pre-application consultation which includes carrying out s47 consultation before and after the EIA scoping process. This iterative approach to s47 consultation can assist applicants in compiling a more detailed PEI, which can then be consulted on in accordance with the SOCC at a later and subsequent stage of consultation. It is likely that if the PEI is more detailed the consultation on environmental effects will at that stage be more effective.