Advice to Ashfield Land
Back to listEnquiry
- From
- Ashfield Land
- Date advice given
- 6 November 2015
- Enquiry type
Certain highway improvements which may form part of the project could be classed as NSIP in their own right and this may require screening of the highway improvements in accordance with Section 22(5)(c) of the Planning Act 2008 to establish whether they will give rise to any likely significant effects. Have PINS had any previous experience of screening highway improvements under this section and what is the process for this.
Advice given
The Planning Inspectorate do not provide legal advice on which applicants and others can rely. Nor do the Planning Inspectorate provide a ?screening? process to determine whether a project is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP); it is for a developer to seek their own legal advice on whether their proposal/part of a proposal would be considered an NSIP.
In respect of the term ?screening?, a developer may request a Screening Opinion from the Secretary State (SoS) under the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 to determine whether a project is ?EIA development? for the purposes of the Regulations. ?EIA development? is defined as either Schedule 1 development (which can include some road schemes) or Schedule 2 development which likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location. The SoS must adopt a screening opinion within 21 days of receipt of the request, but would require sufficient detail about the proposal. Such a Screening Opinion would not be produced for the purposes of s22(5)(c) PA2008.
In the case of the A19 Coast Road junction improvement, I understand that a Screening Opinion was requested by the Highways Agency, the information for which can be found on our website.
http://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/north-east/a19a1058-coast-road-junction-improvement/?ipcsection=docs&stage=1&filter=Environmental+Impact+Assessment
However, my understanding was also that the ?junction improvements? were considered to be an NSIP by virtue of s22(3) i.e. an alteration under the PA2008.