The list below is a record of advice the Planning Inspectorate has provided in respect of the Planning Act 2008 process.
There is a statutory duty under section 51 of the Planning Act 2008 to record the advice that is given in relation to an application or a potential application and to make this publicly available. Advice we have provided is recorded below together with the name of the person or organisation who asked for the advice and the project it relates to. The privacy of any other personal information will be protected in accordance with our Information Charter which you should view before sending information to the Planning Inspectorate.
Note that after a project page has been created for a particular application, any advice provided that relates to it will also be published under the ‘s51 advice’ tab on the relevant project page.
Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived. View the archived advice.
General
Enquiry
With regard to the issue of the timing of the Moorside and NWCC applications, I do wonder if both applications are submitted at the same time, whether there would be the possibility that Step 2 of the Aarhus Convention’s model on public participation in decision making may not be adequately met. This states:
“Reasonable time frames means allowing sufficient time for informing the public and for the public to prepare and participate effectively in the decision making” (see page 20 of this document attachment 1 )
If the public and organisations such as ourselves are unable to participate effectively because of overlapping of written submission deadlines and hearing preparations for the two applications, then this would give rise to concerns that the consultation process was unfair because of time pressure and resource capacity. Preparation and involvement in one NSIP is a complex and time consuming process. Involvement in two at the same time, which are intimately linked to each other will be almost impossible for members of the public and small organisations such as ourselves who do not have the benefit of funding for resources via Planning Performance Agreements that the LPAs and statutory agencies have.
Advice given
In regard to whether there would be any breach of the Convention, I believe this would ultimately be a matter for the Aarhus Convention committee, therefore I would not be able to provide any comment on this.
We have previously asked the developers to consider the potential resource implications of submitting their proposals at a similar time, and I would advise you to raise your concerns directly with NuGen and National Grid.
The Planning Inspectorate must comply with the statutory deadlines in the Planning Act 2008 when accepting and examining an application, however when setting the timetable we will do our best to avoid overlap/clashes of dates where possible. The pre-application consultation stage is a fundamental part of the overall process and we would encourage Friends of the Lake District to engage fully in this process by commenting on the proposals prior to submission, we are aware that NuGen is currently undertaking its statutory consultation now, ahead of the National Grid statutory pre-application consultation phase.
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
