Advice to RSPB

Enquiry

• From: RSPB
• Date advice given: 16 March 2011
• Enquiry type: Phone

In regards to the Environmental Statement, at what stage does it get consulted upon? Is the onus on the developer or the IPC to consult bodies on the ES?

Advice given

Amy Cooper has passed your enquiry onto me as she is out of the office today. I believe that one of your colleagues Harriet Dennison asked a similar question to our EIA team this week which will shortly be available on the IPC's website.

The EIA team advised that applicants have a duty to comply with requirements set out in the Planning Act 2008, which includes consultation on the preliminary environmental information. However, they are not under any duty to consult on the ES specifically prior to submitting their DCO application to the IPC.

The IPC consults with a number of statutory bodies during the scoping stage for projects. The scoping stage is the process used to inform applicants of information they may wish to include in their ES. The RSPB is not a statutory consultee (under the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009) therefore would not be consulted during scoping by the IPC. Although these Regulations prescribe a list of consultees, the IPC strongly encourage applicants to consult with a wide range of bodies and the public, as they deem appropriate during the pre-application stage and whilst preparing the ES.

Once an application has been submitted to the IPC the applicant is under a duty to publicise the acceptance of an application under section 56 of the Act. EIA Regulation 13 stipulates that along with the application, a copy of the environmental statement must be sent to statutory consultees. Hard copies of the environmental statement must also be made available to the public under Regulation 20.