Advice to Nigel Juggins

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Enquiry

From
Nigel Juggins
Date advice given
22 June 2012
Enquiry type
Email

I am trying to understand the planning process within your website. Under your heading 'Legislation and advice' there is a sub section headed 'National Policy Statements'. and a link to where these can be accessed,(DECC). Could you please clarify which NPS's apply to NSIP, and whether the NPPF also applies.

Advice given

The consenting regime for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) set out in the 2008 Act is intended to apply to projects which, by reason of their nature or scale, have impacts (which can be both harmful and beneficial) that are national in scope.

National Policy Statements are statements of national government policy which are agreed by Parliament. Each National Policy Statement explains what kind of NSIP it is relevant to.

S104 of the Act requires that any NSIP application must be decided in accordance with the relevant National Policy Statement, except where a limited set of circumstances apply. It also sets out the matters that the decision on an application must be made having regard to, which include any relevant NPS, any Local Impact Report produced the relevant local authorities and any other “important and relevant” matter.

This list does not include the NPPF, which is a policy document intended to inform local planning policy and does not directly apply to NSIP applications.

However, some NPSs might require that the decision-maker on an NISP application consider local policy when making their decision on particular issues relating to particular types of development. The decision-maker might also feel that local policy or the NPPF itself are important and relevant to their decision. In those cases, the NPPF might be considered.

If you are interested in any particular development and would like to know how to make representations to the decision-maker on an NSIP application, please do not hesitate to contact us again.