Advice to Phillip Hayward
Back to listEnquiry
- From
- Phillip Hayward
- Date advice given
- 26 September 2016
- Enquiry type
Mr Hayward sent comments to the Planning Inspectorate about the visual impact of the proposed scheme.
Advice given
At the Acceptance stage of the Planning Act 2008 process, in consideration of how an applicant has carried out its statutory Pre-application consultation duties, the Planning Inspectorate will apply tests in relation to how the applicant has demonstrated in its Consultation Report that it has had regard to consultation responses. Applicants must provide evidence of the steps taken in response to any queries or concerns received, or provide reasoned justification for why no action was taken. It is important therefore for any concerns about an applicant’s consultation to be shared with it at the appropriate time, and in the appropriate manner; as advertised by the applicant in its Statement of Community Consultation.
In January 2016 the Planning Inspectorate issued a scoping opinion in response to a scoping report submitted by Ashfield Land Management Ltd (ALM) in December 2015. The scoping opinion is a formal written opinion about the information to be included in ALM’s Environmental Statement (for submission with any application for development consent). It establishes the environmental aspects that the Planning Inspectorate thinks should be assessed and the methods it thinks are appropriate to do so. The Rail Central scoping opinion is available to read on our website, here:
The scoping opinion records the applicant’s intention to consult with the local authority and Natural England about its landscape and visual assessment. A typical approach to considering and finalising associated methodologies would apply the guidance Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (3rd ed), produced by the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). The methodology that Rail Central chooses in carrying out its landscape and visual assessment must be presented in the Environmental Statement submitted with any application for development consent. That methodology will then be subject to any examination of the application (by one or more Examining Inspectors), and interested parties will be able to make representations about it at the appropriate time (see information about the application process, here: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/).