I am writing on behalf of the Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve (a Local Nature Reserve adjacent to the proposed Cory Decarbonisation Project). We appreciate we are beyond the date of the Scoping review for this project. We shall register as interested parties at the time of the DCO. Myself, as representative of the Friends group, along with the Thames Water Nature Reserve Manager (copied in this email) have had a number of liaison meetings with representatives of Cory over recent years on two of their previous projects (Data Centres and Riverside Energy Park (REP2) – the latter being an NSIP Project). In April this year we were invited by Cory to an early briefing of their latest proposed project – a Decarbonisation plant. We were horrified to learn that as a matter of course – they intended to land grab parts of the designated nature reserve for this project. I understand discussions are taking place between them and Thames Water. Apart from being very concerned that at a time when nature is in crisis and the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, a valuable nature reserve is once again under threat and cannot understand why the Secretary of State is allowing it. However, the main point of this email is to bring to your attention something we believe you should be aware of. I was away for much of late April/May hence not being able to respond to the Scoping Report. It has recently been brought to our attention that Cory undertook a local Community consultation. See attachments. What concerns us is that whilst Cory stated their intention to continue a dialogue with the Reserve Manager and the Friends, neither of us were given notice of this public consultation. There are over 600 members of the Friends Group, most of whom would have been interested in this consultation. Not only were we not informed, we can find no evidence of where these meetings were publicised, either through local notices, local newspapers or any other forum. We have asked our Cory contacts for a meeting with the Friends group which they have agreed to. Whilst writing to all 600+ members inviting them to the meeting, we asked if any knew of or had attended the public meetings – not one single member confirmed they knew of it. We wonder if this should be followed up as it seems to us this consultation was not properly and widely publicised to the immediate and wider community for whom the nature reserve is an invaluable retreat from the urban environment most live in. Thank you for your consideration. Kind regards Ralph Todd (On behalf of the Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve)

Dear Ralph, Thank you for your email setting out your concerns regarding the nature reserve and the Applicant’s (Cory Environmental Holdings Limited) recent non-statutory consultation exercise. Before adopting a Scoping Opinion, the Planning Inspectorate, under the terms of Regulation 10 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the EIA Regulations), has a duty to consult: • a body prescribed under section 42(1)(a) of the Planning Act 2008 (duty to consult) and listed in column 1 of the table set out in Schedule 1 to the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 where the circumstances set out in column 2 of that table are satisfied in respect of that body; • each authority that is within section 43 of the Planning Act 2008 (local authorities for purposes of section 42(1)(b)); and • if the land to which the application, or proposed application, relates or any part of that land is in Greater London, the Greater London Authority. The Planning Inspectorate also has a duty to notify certain bodies under Regulation 11 of the EIA Regulations of their duty under the Regulations to make available to the Applicant information they possess which is considered relevant to the preparation of the Environmental Statement. These legal duties are what the recent consultation by the Inspectorate was based upon and we do not contact any additional parties. Under the criteria set out above, Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve is not a consultation body for the purposes of EIA Scoping. The Applicant has their own duty to undertake a wide consultation to inform their Application under the Planning Act 2008. Non-statutory consultation is a voluntary process undertaken by the Applicant and is not defined within the Planning Act 2008. The Applicant must undertake statutory consultation in the form prescribed in the Planning Act 2008 and the EIA Regulations prior to making an application. The Applicant’s consultation report to be submitted with its application will need to demonstrate how consultation responses have been taken into account. Once an application is submitted, the Inspectorate, on behalf of the Secretary of State, has 28 days (known as the “acceptance stage”) to decide whether the application meets the required standards to proceed to examination including whether the Applicant’s consultation has been adequate. During the acceptance stage the Inspectorate will also ask whether the relevant local authorities think the Applicant’s pre-application consultation was adequate before we decide whether or not to examine the application. A relevant local authority is the county and district, or unitary local authority(s) in which the development is located (in this case, the London Borough of Bexley), and the neighbouring local authorities. You can tell your local authority if you think there is anything they should include in their adequacy of consultation representation. The Planning Inspectorate is unable to consider representations about the merits of any application until it has been submitted and accepted for Examination. We would advise you to forward your comments (including any comments on the EIA Scoping Report) to the Applicant if you have not already done so ([email protected]). It is important that the Applicant is made aware of any comments at the pre-application stage to enable them to consider the points raised before finalising their proposals and submitting the application. We note your reference to the Secretary of State “allowing” parts of the nature reserve to be acquired for the Proposed Development. To clarify, the project is currently in the pre-application phase and an Inspector (as part of the Examining Authority) is not appointed until after an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) has been submitted and accepted for Examination. Following an Examination of the project and a recommendation from the Examining Authority, the decision on whether or not to grant development consent would then be made by the relevant Secretary of State. The Planning Inspectorate has published a series of advice notes that you may find useful, which are available on the National Infrastructure Planning website: Advice notes | National Infrastructure Planning (planninginspectorate.gov.uk). In particular, our Advice Note Seven provides information on the Scoping process. Advice Note Eight provides an overview of the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the various opportunities for you to participate in the process, including Advice Note 8.2 about how to register to participate in an Examination. We will publish your comments, together with our response, on the Cory Decarbonisation project page of the National Infrastructure Planning website (section 51 advice tab): Cory Decarbonisation Project | National Infrastructure Planning (planninginspectorate.gov.uk) I hope that this assists, but if you have any questions then please let us know. Kind regards Case Team