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Advice to Jon Barnard

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Enquiry

From
Jon Barnard
Date advice given
26 June 2013
Enquiry type
Email

Requested clarification on the Scoping Opinion

Advice given

Thank you for your letter dated 4 June 2013 requesting clarification on the Secretary of State?s (SoS) Scoping Opinion for the proposed Norwich Northern Distributor Road issued on 2 April 2013. Your letter asked whether the proposed changes to the A47(T) Postwick Junction were considered within Scoping Opinion as there was concern that the proposed slip road arrangements were not clearly described within the Scoping Report entitled ?Northern Distributor Road ? Scoping Report? (Revision A) dated February 2013.

A telephone conversation was held on 13 June 2013 with Ian Morris, Project Lead of the Major Project (NDR) Team at Norwich County Council to clarify the points raised in the letter. During this conversation Mr Morris stated that in the absence of a detailed description, the applicant is concerned that the description of the proposed development was not sufficiently clear particularly in relation to the proposed changes to the A47(T) Postwick Junction.

The SoS can confirm that the Scoping Opinion was provided on the basis of the information included within the applicants Scoping Report, the appended red line boundary plan (Drawing No. R1C093-R1-4232) and the Engineering Layout and Profile ? Mainline Sheets 1 to 12 (Drawing No. R1C093-R1-4014A). These plans include proposed changes to the A47(T) junction and have been taken into account. The SoS can only provide a scoping opinion when requested and the Scoping Opinion is informed by the information provided by the applicant and the consultation bodies.

If the applicant is of the opinion that material information was excluded from the Scoping Report, then they may wish to consider requesting a new Scoping Opinion. It is at the applicants? discretion whether they choose to do this. Applicants? should be aware that the description of the development in the ES must be sufficiently certain to meet the requirements of paragraph 17 of Schedule 4 Part 1 of the EIA Regulations and the Applicant should ensure that the submitted ES adequately supports the details set out in the Development Consent Order (DCO).