Advice to Stephen Kirkwood

Enquiry

• From: Stephen Kirkwood
• Date advice given: 17 March 2011
• Enquiry type: Email

I understand that under the planning act 2008 the list of statutory consultees listed under section 42 includes any under section 44 which includes landowners, tenants lessees etc.

As i therefore understand this rule then any statutory consultees defined as above should be in the pre application consultation. If this application then goes to the IPC for scoping then the IPC itself should consult any landowner, tenant, lessee etc.

Am I understanding this correctly or have the rules changed since 2008.

An early reply would be appreciated

Advice given

You are correct in thinking that landowners, tenants and lessees are statutory consultees under section 42 and 44 of the 2008 Planning Act. The applicant must therefore consult all statutory consultees (including persons with an interest in the land) throughout the pre-application stage.
Regulation 8(6) of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 (EIA Regulations) requires the IPC to consult with 'the consultation bodies' before adopting a scoping opinion. Reg 2 (1) of the EIA Regulations defines 'the consultation bodies' as: "(a) a body prescribed under section 42(a) (duty to consult) and listed in column 1 of the table set out at Schedule 1 to the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009(a) where the circumstances set out in column 2 are satisfied in respect of that body; (b) each authority that is within section 43 (local authorities for purposes of section 42(b)); (...)". In other words the statutory consultees for the purposes of the EIA Scoping Opinion (who get consulted by the IPC) are only those under section 42 (a) and (b) of the 2008 Planning Act; The IPC therefore does not consult landowners, tenants or lessees for the purposes of a scoping opinion.

Please find attached the Advice Notes on How the Process Works and Scoping Opinion Consultation.