Advice to RPS

Enquiry

• From: RPS
• Date advice given: 10 October 2011
• Enquiry type: Phone

Mr Lyn Powell of RPS, Cardiff office, telephoned the IPC to enquire about the criteria for acceptance in reference to a future application.

Our response was by telephone.

Advice given

The caller was thanked for his enquiry and our response included the following.

Under s.51 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008), the caller was informed that the IPC may give advice about applying for an order granting development consent but cannot advise on the merits of any particular application, or proposed application. A developer would therefore need to seek their own legal advice on which they can rely in regard to whether a proposed development constitutes a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the definitions in ss14-30 of PA 2008, and whether such a proposal would require consent subject to s.31. A developer also needs to comply with PA 2008 and secondary legislation, including the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2009, for EIA scoping and following the requirements for undertaking consultation during pre-application.

During pre-application, the IPC can provide applicants with non-binding feedback as to whether the draft documents are likely to cover sufficient material and have been prepared to the necessary high standards. However, it is not until the acceptance stage that the IPC formally assesses whether an application has met the requirements of legislation to proceed to Examination. There are also strict limitations in terms of any deviation made to a proposed scheme after consultation. During acceptance, the IPC would have to decide whether such a change constitutes a ‘material’ change; in such circumstances a ‘material’ change could disallow an application from being accepted for Examination.

The IPC referred the caller to the Commission’s Advice Notes, published on the IPC website, which contain useful information about the application process, as well as statutory guidance produced by CLG as well as IPC Guidance Note 1. The s.55 checklist is also published on the IPC website.

The IPC are happy to meet and discuss the application process for a development consent order with RPS and their client as soon as the developer is ready to notify the Commission that they intend to submit their application in the future; at which time the IPC would publish the details in our Programme of Projects.