General enquiry regarding the 2008 Planning Act process with particular emphasis on the role of Local Authorities

During the pre-application stage, there is a duty on the developer to undertake consultation with people living in the vicinity of the proposed project, and to have regard to responses to that consultation.
The IPC's role at the pre-application stage is to provide advice about the process of making an application, or the process of making a representation about an application. We are unable to provide legal opinions or comment on the merits of the scheme or national policy. This ensures the impartiality of the IPC and protects the interests of all parties involved in the application process. All advice that we give is recorded via an advice log, in line with s.51 of the Planning Act 2008. This log is published on our website. attachment 1
Once the pre-application consultation duties are complete, the developer may submit an application to the Commission. The Commission has 28 days to decide whether to accept the application to proceed to the examination stage. This decision is based on whether, amongst other matters, the pre-application consultation has been adequate. When making a decision on whether the pre-application consultation has been adequate, the Commission will have regard to:
· National Grid?s consultation report;
· Any comments on the adequacy of consultation submitted by relevant Local Authorities; and
· The extent to which National Grid have followed the guidance published by the Commission and the Secretary of State.
If an application is accepted for examination by the Infrastructure Planning Commission, you are able to become directly involved in the examination of an application. A suite of advice notes has been published providing information on how and when members of the public can become involved in the planning process and have their say. In particular, advice note 8.3 provides information on how to register and make a written representation. This can be found at:
attachment 2
Key documents that may be useful include:
Our Pre-Application Guidance Note provides an overview of the process at Pre-Application stage: attachment 3
A copy of the meeting note from our 16th Feb meeting with National Grid regarding the project: attachment 4
An extract from the presentation for another project as discussed which focuses on the local authority role (please note we intend to cover this, and your questions, in the forthcoming meeting):
Further information
For background information, 'The IPC: A guide to our role' provides an overview of our process. Page 5 sets out the main roles of local authorities: attachment 5
More information regarding Local Impact Reports is available in Advice Note 1: attachment 6
The current National Grid Undergrounding consultation can be accessed via attachment 7
An Advice Note setting out the IPC's own 'outreach' programme. Where appropriate (and this will be the case for Mid Wales Connections), we offer to hold an event in the local area to explain to local people the role of the IPC and opportunities to have their say. I hope we can discuss this in more detail when we meet: attachment 8
Public enquiries
We discussed some documents that you may wish to signpost from your website. I'd suggest:
IPC Advice Note 8.1 which covers 'how the process works' : attachment 9 and
IPC Advice Note 8.2 which details 'how to have your say' : attachment 2
In addition, the IPC Factsheet answers some of the frequently asked questions about the way we work: attachment 11.
I appreciate there is a lot of information here, and much more on our website (attachment 12.