Advice to Save Manston Airport association (SMAa)
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- From
- Save Manston Airport association (SMAa)
- Date advice given
- 5 July 2018
- Enquiry type
You have indicated a preference for combined communications (most recently on 2018-06-26) : “We encourage and advise all stakeholders who share similar views to collate communications to us because this assists the process.” However on 2017-07-21 a 286 signatory letter, and on 2018-06-26 an 1,850 signatory letter, being combined communications from Save Manston Airport association (SMAa), have been published by PINS without the signatures of the additional signees, the second communication only listed as anon. This we consider to be an unfair treatment of all the people who have gone to the trouble of signing the communications.
Why we feel this matter needs a resolution, is that shortly we believe RSP will be re-submitting the DCO application. And a little later SMAa hope the DCO process will be in the Examination phase. Now we would be pleased to submit at least some of the comments our members wish to make as joint communications. However there is clearly no point in doing this if PINS will again just be treating them all as a single communication from “anon”. Thus it would become necessary to ask all those that wished to sign a letter, to instead write or email their own views personally and individually.
Advice given
The Planning Inspectorate encourages groups of people who share similar views to submit combined representations/ communications because this assists the process. We offer this advice based on the principle that it is the relevance and importance of the issues raised that will attract weight in an Examining Authority's deliberations at the Examination stage, not the quantity of responses.
In respect of the SMAa petition submitted on 19 June 2018, there is no mechanism by which its content can be considered by the Inspectorate at the Pre-application or Acceptance stages of the process. Only correspondence received at the Pre-application stage regarding an applicant’s formal statutory consultation under s42, s47 and/ or s48 can be considered at the Acceptance stage.
The petition signatories have been anonymised under the General Data Protection Regulation.