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Advice to Stop Rail Central Ltd

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Enquiry

From
Stop Rail Central Ltd
Date advice given
15 November 2016
Enquiry type
Email

We write to seek clarification on the definition of “open space and countryside” as referred to under NPSNN [National Policy Statement for National Networks para] 5.162 and would wish to question whether the several hundred acres of open countryside and predominantly good quality agricultural, the land which forms part of above application, would fall under this category. We are unsure whether clarification of policy falls within PINS remit or the [Secretary of State for Transport]. We have therefore also addressed this same question to our local MP The Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom (via Tommy Gilchrist) so they may raise the issue with [the Secretary of State for Transport].

Advice given

Clarification/ interpretation of Government policy does not fall within the remit of the Planning Inspectorate. I am therefore unable to advise you in this regard. Please contact the Department for Transport (DfT) with your query.

I am also unable to advise you about whether the lands to which you refer would fall under a legally defined category of “open space” and/ or “countryside”. The relevant local authority should be able to help you in this regard.

I can however advise you on the definition of “open space” within the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008), which may partially satisfy your query. Sections 131 and 132 of the PA2008 both state that:

In this section — “common”, “fuel or field garden allotment” and “open space” have the same meanings as in section 19 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 [ALA1981] (c. 67); […]

Open space is defined at subsection 19(4) of the ALA1981 as follows:

“open space” means any land laid out as a public garden, or used for the purposes of public recreation, or land being a disused burial ground.

The PA2008 does not provide a definition for “countryside” or for “open space and countryside”. Upon investigation, the footnote on page 79 of the National Policy Statement for National Networks (NPSNN) appears to be transposed from the glossary definition for “open space” in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). But the NPPF glossary does not also capture “countryside” as the footnote in the NPSNN appears to. This could form the basis of any future enquiry to DfT.