Advice to M.B Thomas
Back to listEnquiry
- From
- M.B Thomas
- Date advice given
- 17 September 2014
- Enquiry type
I note that your website shows proposals for two Rail Freight Interchanges in The East Midlands which are just 15 miles apart. Please could you clarify whether or not the need for two such developments within such close proximity has been properly evaluated, particularly as there is already an existing rail freight depot at Castle Donington (East Midlands Distribution Centre) which has had unused capacity for some time. The planning application for the East Midlands Gateway development was submitted 29th August, whilst that for the East Midlands Intermodal Park is expected Q1 2015. I note that a decision on the first application must be made within 28 days, however may I respectfully suggest that both applications should be considered together.
Advice given
The application by Roxhill (Kegworth) Ltd for the East Midlands Gateway Rail Freight Interchange was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 29 August 2014. A decision must be made by 26 September 2014 about whether or not the application is of a satisfactory standard for the Inspectorate to examine. There will be no decision about whether or not development consent should be granted until the application has been examined by an appointed Examining Authority, and a report and recommendations has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport. For more information on the process, please refer to our Advice note 8.1: How the process works. The need for rail freight interchanges is set out in the Department for Transport?s Rail Freight Policy Guidance, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-rail-freight-interchange-policy-guidance. There is also a draft National Policy Statement for the National Road and Rail Networks in the public domain which, if/when designated, will have primacy in the decision-making process for relevant nationally significant infrastructure projects. It is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/263046/executive-summary-consultation-document.pdf There are a multitude of factors which would prevent the Planning Inspectorate from dictating when developers should submit applications to it. Regardless, each application for development consent accepted by the Inspectorate will be examined on its own merits. In consideration of an individual project, this does not however preclude the cumulative effects of development on a national, regional or local scale from being examined by an appointed Examining Authority. If and when one, or both, of the applications referred to are accepted to be examined by the Planning Inspectorate, the respective developers will be required to publicise that decision and to provide notification of a period within which anybody can register to become an ?interested party? for the purposes of the examination. Interested party status affords people the right to make representations on the merits of a project to an appointed Examining Authority.