At the meeting of Llanfyllin Town Council this week, I was asked to write to you, to voice stronge objections to the preffered route, now being considered by National Grid, to provide a connection for new wind farms in Mid Wales.
In representing the many concerns of this community, Llanfyllin Town Council ask that you, in your role as National Planning Inspectorate, do all in your power to stop the destruction of our countryside.

We appreciate being kept informed by stakeholders about Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. Your letter is useful for us to monitor emerging issues in response to a pre-application proposal. As you will be aware, however, the Planning Inspectorate can accept this letter for information purposes only at this stage.
The application for the Mid Wales Connection (National Grid) proposal is likely to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in Q4 of 2013.
The proposed overhead electric line project is currently in the 'pre-application' stage of our process and therefore the application has not yet been formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Before submitting an application, applicants are required to carry out extensive consultation on the proposed development (section 42 and section 47 of the Planning Act 2008 as amended).
During the pre-application stage the applicant is your first point of contact until the application is formally submitted. Responding to the applicant?s pre-application consultation is the best approach to influence a project, whether you agree with it, disagree with it, or believe it could be improved. I would therefore encourage you as a local authority to ensue that National Grid is aware of concerns that arose during your meeting with local community.
Once the application has been formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State has 28 days to decide whether to ?accept? the application to proceed to examination. Part of this assessment will consider whether the applicant has adequately complied with their duty to have taken account of any relevant responses received from persons they are required to consult under s42, 44 and 47 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended), which includes certain local authorities and statutory bodies, persons with interests in the land and members of the public.
If the application is accepted the applicant is required to publicise this decision and also notify certain bodies of this decision. This notice and publicity will include information on when to make a relevant representation can be made.
The purpose of the relevant representation is also to make a brief summary of what you agree/or disagree with in the application and what you consider the main issues to be and their impact. Interested parties will be able to take a part in the examination of the application including attending the Preliminary Meeting and hearings and detailed written representation can be submitted later on in the process.
Please view the following Advice Notes for more information:
8.1 How the process works
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8.2 Responding to the developer?s pre-application consultation
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8.3 How to register and become an interested party in an application
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8.4 Influencing how application will be examined ? the Preliminary Meeting
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