1. Section 51 advice
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Advice to Bromsgrove District Council

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Enquiry

From
Bromsgrove District Council
Date advice given
15 October 2012
Enquiry type
Email

I have received correspondence from Network Rail that the above Development Consent Order application was accepted as valid by PINS on 1 October. However, I am yet to receive any communication from PINS confirming this.

I look forward to your response on this matter. If the DCO application has been validated, I would be grateful for guidance on the next stage of the process.

Advice given

There is a duty on the Applicant to publicise and notify persons when an application is accepted by the Planning Inspectorate for examination, which it would appear from your email, they have complied with. There is no such requirement for the Planning Inspectorate to do this. The Planning Inspectorate do however publish the application documents, acceptance letter and acceptance checklist on the Planning Portal project page.

Regarding the process going forward, the relevant representation period has now opened (today) for this application and will remain open until 15 November 2012. I would encourage Bromsgrove and Redditch Councils to visit the Planning Portal National Infrastructure project page: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/projects/West%20Midlands/Redditch-Branch-Enhancement-Scheme/ and make a relevant representation.

This form is required to be filled in by any Council, Organisation or individual that wishes to be an Interested Party and therefore take part in this examination. As the scheme is located within Bromsgrove District Council, the Council is automatically an Interested Party however, I would encourage you to fill in a relevant representation form as this provides the Examining authority with your views from the outset. This form is available online by clicking the 'Register online' button. If there is anyone who does not have access to a computer, they are able to ring us on 0303 444 5000 and we can send out individual paper forms.

In relation to what to expect over the coming months, the Planning Inspectorate have produced some advice notes, all of which can be accessed through the Planning Portal http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/advice-notes/. Of specific interest to the running of the examination are advice notes 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5.

In general, the next stage is waiting for the appointment of the Examining authority and the closing of the relevant representation period on 15 November 2012. After this date, the Planning Inspectorate will advise all organisations and individuals who are Interested Parties of the date, time and place of the Preliminary Meeting. This is a procedural meeting in which the Examining authority will set out how it intends to examine the application and will listen to attendees' views on this. The Examining authority will provide no less that 21 days notice of this hearing taking place.

After the hearing a Rule 8 letter setting out the examination timetable and deadlines will be sent to all Interested Parties.