Enquiry regarding s53 authorisation and changes to Advice Note and DCLG Guidance.

In response to your first question, the most recent Advice Note 5 has been last updated in April 2012 and it is currently under revision.
With regards to your two following questions as mentioned in my previous email.
?At the time that Wrexham Power Ltd submitted their request for authorisation April 2013 under Section 53 the previous version of the DCLG guidance was still in place as reflected in Advice Note 5. However, by the time the Secretary of State determined the requests, the revised version (June 2013) of the guidance had been published. The requests for authorisation were, therefore, considered against the DCLG guidance current at the time of the determination; this was the June 2013 version of the 'fees guidance'.?
This is not unusual - where an authority takes a planning decision, for example, they must decide it in accordance with the policy that is extant at the time of decision, even if that policy is different to that which applied when the application was made.
With regards to authorisation given by the SoS under s53, I can confirm that 10 authorisations were granted between 19 July 2012 to 18 July 2013 out of which 7 were related to the requests from Wrexham Power Ltd. Please note however that revised version of the DCLG Guidance on Fees was already in place from June 2013.
In terms of changes to the Advice Note 5, they are currently under revision to reflect the amendments made by DCLG. The Advice Note will be made official as soon as practicable and you will be able to find that out from the Advice Note Change Register on our website.
With regards to the amendments to the DCLG Guidance, as mentioned previously that this is carried out by the Department for Communities and Local Government and not the Planning Inspectorate. If you have any views about guidance issued by the government, please contact your local MP who should be able to raise these concerns with the relevant department.
Please note that once the application is formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and if it is accepted for examination, you will then be able to raise your comments directly to the appointed Examining Authority. At this stage however I suggest continuing raising your comments to the applicant and your relevant local authority and/or MP should you wish to.
To conclude, I trust that your all questions have now been answered and I hope that information provided was helpful.
Thank you for contacting us.