Advice to Alan Thwaite
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- From
- Alan Thwaite
- Date advice given
- 6 April 2018
- Enquiry type
I received recently a consultation document from Highways England called' A1 Birtley to Coal House improvement scheme', dated February 2018. The penultimate page refers to the 'Planning process', in which it states, 'you can register with the Planning Inspectorate as an interested party to be kept informed of progress ...' Can you please tell me how to do this.
Advice given
This proposed development is currently in the Pre-Application stage of the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). At this stage, the Applicant will be preparing their application documents for submission. Within your enquiry you refer to being in receipt of a consultation letter provided by Highways England (the Applicant). The Applicant undertook their statutory consultation between 8 February and 22 March 2018 for the proposed development. Under the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) the Applicant is required to submit a Consultation Report as part of their application for development consent during the Acceptance stage of the planning process. This report must demonstrate (among other duties) how the Applicant has met their statutory duties under the PA2008 during their statutory consultation period. The Consultation Report must demonstrate how they have complied with ss42, 46, 47, 48 and 49 of the PA2008. Section 49 of the PA2008 specifically requires the Applicant to demonstrate whether they have had regard to any responses during the consultation period and whether this resulted in a change to the proposal. Although the Applicant’s formal statutory consultation period has now closed, as the application is still in the pre-application stage, any parties that may have any concerns/issues with the development proposal should contact the Applicant directly to raise any such concerns/issues. Below are the Applicant’s contact details for the project. Email: info@highwaysengland.co.uk Telephone: 0300 123 5000 Post: Highways England, National Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park, Birmingham B32 1AF Website: http://roads.highways.gov.uk/projects/a1-birtley-to-coal-house/
Once the application has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate (the Inspectorate), we have a statutory 28 day period (known as Acceptance stage) to determine whether to Accept the application for Examination. At the Acceptance stage the Inspectorate will undertake the s55 Acceptance (‘Checklist’) to determine whether the Applicant has complied with their statutory consultation duties and other statutory duties during their pre-application stage.
If the application for development consent for this project is formally accepted by the Secretary of State there will be a period where individuals and organisations can register as Interested Parties (IPs) by submitting a Relevant Representation form via the project page of our website (or requesting hard copies thereof) to express your views in relation to the project which will be considered by the Examining Authority during the examination.
We would recommend that you visit our project page for the A1Birtley to Coal House Improvement scheme as any advice issued will be published to this page and you could also sign up for email updates to be kept informed on project progress, once the application is formally submitted.
The Inspectorate has published a series of advice notes on the National Infrastructure planning website which explain the examination process, including information on how to get involved and we would recommend you review the advice notes listed below: Advice Note 8: Overview of the nationally significant infrastructure process for members of the public and others; Advice Note 8.1: Responding to the developer’s pre-application consultation; and Advice Note 8.2: How to register to participate in an Examination.
Our full suite of advice and legislation relating to NSIPs can be found on our website https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/ or you can review our FAQ page, which provides further information on the NSIP process.