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Advice to Cognisant Research

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Enquiry

From
Cognisant Research
Date advice given
30 July 2010
Enquiry type
Email

To whom it may concern,

I understand that the 2008 Planning Act requires the undertaking of public consultation with people living in the vicinity of proposed works in advance of any Development Consent Order application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

I believe that there is also a requirement to explain how feedback from the consultation process has influenced the proposal that goes forward to the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

Does the IPC publish guidance on how public consultation should be undertaken and ultimately reviewed?

Ian Nockolds AMRS

Advice given

Dear Mr Nockolds

Thank you for your email of 28 July 2010. Section 47 of the Planning Act 2008 places a duty upon applicants for Development Consent Orders (DCOs) to consult the local community prior to making applications. Section 47 also states that a developer must prepare a Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC), setting out their methodology for consulting with the local community. The developer has a duty to consult with the local authority in which the proposal is situated about the content of the SoCC before publishing the SoCC in a local newspaper. Local authorities are better placed than the IPC, as a national body, to advise about the most appropriate ways to consult their local communities.

Section 49 requires that the applicant must have regard to the responses to consultation. Section 37(3)(c) requires that applications be accompanied by a Consultation Report, which should give details of what has been done in compliance with the duty to consult, what responses have been received, and what account has been taken of responses.

The IPC will not accept applications for DCOs in the absence of an acceptable Consultation Report.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published a guidance note on pre-application consultation, (http://infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/guidancepreapplication.pdf,) and paragraphs 19 to 31 of the IPC's guidance note on pre-application stages (http://infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IPC-pre-app-guidance-note-1.pdf) also cover pre-application consultation.

Ultimately, however, it is for the applicant to decide how to consult after taking advice from the local authority. Since each development is unique, we are reluctant to prescribe the manner in which pre-application should be carried out. We will consider the appropriateness of consultation when a decision is made on whether to accept any application.

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