1. Section 51 advice
  2. Advice in detail

Advice to Anonymous

Back to list

Enquiry

From
Anonymous
Date advice given
1 June 2016
Enquiry type
Email

Concern to ensure that there will be consultations, drop in sessions and meetings held in the towns most affected.

Advice given

You are right to have directed your correspondence to RiverOak at an early stage. As you note, the activity that RiverOak are proposing to undertake over the summer period will be a non-statutory consultation. This activity will not therefore have to be conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Planning Act 2008 – the legislation that governs this type of airport-related development. RiverOak will however need to undertake a stage of statutory consultation before an application can be formally submitted. In preparation for that, RiverOak will have to produce a draft Statement of Community Consultation that sets out how they will undertake the consultation activity. They are required to consult with Thanet District Council and Kent County Council on the content of that document. If you feel that RiverOak are not sufficiently considering your views on this specific matter, you may wish to inform the relevant authorities of your comments in respect of the way in which consultation is planned to be carried out.

The Planning Inspectorate met with RiverOak earlier this week on Wednesday 1 June 2016. As part of that meeting The Planning Inspectorate reported receiving correspondence in which it was noted that RiverOak had not responded to submissions made via their website. There is no statutory requirement for a developer to respond directly to individual correspondence, but RiverOak are aware of the frustrations this has created.

Once any statutory consultation has been completed, the Planning Act 2008 requires that RiverOak will need to demonstrate that they have had regard to any representations received during that stage of consultation activity. Upon submission of an application, RiverOak would need to produce a Consultation Report to explain how they had regard to the relevant representations received, whether any changes were made to the proposals and, if no changes were made, provide an explanation as to why.