Advice to No Night Flights
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- From
- No Night Flights
- Date advice given
- 21 April 2017
- Enquiry type
Please find attached a copy of a letter from No Night Flights to Thanet District Council. The letter is No Night Flights’ comment on a document issued by RSP (RiverOak Strategic Partners). The RSP document is apparently RSP’s draft Statement of Community Consultation (dSoCC). We came across it by chance.
The dSoCC is inadequate in a number of ways. The main issue is that it sets out a programme of consultation activities that avoids making sure that residents under the flight path of the proposed new cargo airport would be told that the consultation exercise is happening.
The attached letter demonstrates the significant difference between the area that RSP claims might be affected by a new cargo hub and the area that residents know from past experience is affected by cargo flights going into and out of the old airport.
As PINS has regular meetings with RSP, we would be grateful if you would bring our grave concerns about RSP’s dSoCC to RSP’s attention.
Advice given
By way of clarification, applicants are required by s47 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) to consult each host local authority about the content of a draft Statement of Community Consultation (dSoCC) and must, in preparing the final statement, have regard to any responses provided.
For information, in conjunction with this consultation the Planning Inspectorate was also asked to provide comments on the content of the dSoCC. Our response is published on our website, here: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/register-of-advice/?ipcadvice=5f16d75fa1. To clarify, the request for the Planning Inspectorate to provide comments on the dSoCC was wholly discretionary. There are no provisions within the PA2008 which require the Planning Inspectorate to provide feedback on a dSoCC in this way, or for an applicant to have regard to the feedback that the Planning Inspectorate provides.
In publishing your request for advice, and the Planning Inspectorate’s response to it, the concerns set out in your letter Thanet District Council will be brought to the attention of RSP.