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Advice to Rachel Hosier

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Enquiry

From
Rachel Hosier
Date advice given
25 October 2017
Enquiry type
Email

In the course of conversation with friends I have discovered that parish council has been sent a letter from The Planning Inspectorate in respect of Highways England Development Consent for the A303 Stonehenge to Berwick Down. I am aware that I am not a consultation body as such, but as the owner and farmer of land where the western portal and surface carriageway is being proposed I am surprised that I am not also included in these communications. I have a lifetime of knowledge of this landscape but as time progresses I am feeling increasingly marginalised with little opportunity to feed in this information until decisions have already been made. I would like to be able to add my experience into the development process so the resulting scheme will be harmonious to our environmental projects and farm business as well as benefit the whole of the World Heritage Site.

Advice given

The applicant has requested a Scoping Opinion under Regulation 10 of The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the EIA Regulations). They have also formally notified the Secretary of State under Regulation 8(1)(b) of the same regulations that they are proposing to provide an Environmental Statement in respect of the development. The Planning Inspectorate administers the processes relating to requests for scoping opinions on behalf of the Secretary of State.

Under Regulation 10 of the EIA Regulations, the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State) must not adopt a scoping opinion until they have consulted the “consultation bodies”, which are defined as:

(a) a body prescribed under section 42(1)(a)(c) (duty to consult) [of the Planning Act 2008] and listed in column 1 of the table set out in Schedule 1 to the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 where the circumstances set out in column 2 of that table are satisfied in respect of that body;

(b) each authority that is within section 43(e) (local authorities for purposes of section 42(1)(b)) [of the Planning Act 2008]; and

(c) if the land to which the application, or proposed application, relates or any part of that land is in Greater London, the Greater London Authority;

These “consultation bodies” includes local planning authorities, parish councils, statutory advisory bodies (such as Historic England, Natural England and the Environment Agency) and others. Further details on the process of defining the consultation bodies can be found in the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice note three: EIA consultation and notification.

By way of a response to your query, the regulations do not provide for any other persons outside of the defined “consultation bodies” being consulted as to the scope of the Environmental Statement, so you are correct in that you cannot be a consultation body as such under the EIA Regulations. It should also be noted that the requesting of a Scoping Opinion is not a mandatory requirement in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process, but it is an option which applicants typically take.

However, there are statutory pre-application consultation requirements which the applicant must undertake in accordance with section 42 (Duty to consult) and section 47 (Duty to consult local community) of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended). There is further information on this process in the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice note eight series, including information as to how members of the public and other persons interested in the project can participate in the process. The statutory consultation process under the Planning Act is separate to the EIA scoping consultation process and is undertaken by the applicant themselves. I understand from Highways England’s own A303 Stonehenge project page that the statutory consultation process is planned to take place in “early 2018” and this is also referred to at section 4.4 of their Scoping Report which I understand you may have already seen. I would encourage you to speak to the applicant directly regarding the specific arrangements for their consultation process.

I understand your wish to participate in the EIA scoping process at this time, and to this end I would encourage you, if possible, to engage with your local parish council and seek to convey your views as part of their response to the EIA scoping consultation. You will also be able to participate in the separate statutory consultation process that the applicant is required to undertake as described above (should you wish to do so) and the applicant has a specific duty under s49 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) to have regard to relevant responses to their consultation in the preparation of their application.

The relevant pieces of legislation referred to in this email can be found on our website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/legislation/

Whilst we are not able to accommodate your request to be a consultation body for the purposes of the EIA Regulations, I trust the above is helpful.