On behalf of the Campaign against the proposed Wisbech Incinerator, (WisWIN - Wisbech Against Incineration) we wish to raise our grave concern that no consultation is taking place with residents and that the Planning Inspectorate are of the view that consultation via email is acceptable. Wisbech is a small rural town and many people do not have digital communication in the form of emails and social media. This is well known locally but was evident when people cued up when we held a Rally in Wisbech Market Place in February when we had a paper petition for people to sign. Over 200 people signed. We subsequently took the petition to Tesco's early in March for two hours on two occasions and we received nearly 1,000 signatures. When checking with residents to ensure they hadn't already signed our MP's petition, many people confirmed they had no computer. We are therefore asking for a delay and have also written to the Leader of Cambs County Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor raising our concerns and asking for them to request a deferment. We appreciate that there are legal time limits but in this unprecedented time because of the Coronavirus epidemic, this seems a reasonable request.

Thank you for your email of 29 March 2020 expressing concerns about the adequacy of consultation in the current unprecedented public health situation. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in replying. As you are aware, the proposed application by MWV Environment Ltd is at the Pre-application stage of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) process. Therefore, the Planning Inspectorate is unable to consider representations about the merits of any application until it is accepted for Examination. The Planning Inspectorate also does not have the power to intervene in a Developer’s pre-application programme. The process for applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) is set out in thePA2008. The timing of the application’s programme is at the discretion of the Applicant. The Developer is currently carrying out their first round of non-statutory consultation. Further rounds of consultation will take place and the developer will advertise these before they are due to commence. Therefore, I would encourage you to contact the developer directly with regard to your concerns. The developer has a statutory duty to have regard to all consultation responses received and this should be demonstrated in the Consultation Report as part of their DCO application. However, if you feel your comments are not being taken into account, I would advise you to write to your local authority and set out why you think the Applicant is failing to conduct its consultation properly. Your comments should be taken into account when the local authority sends the Inspectorate its comments on whether the Applicant has fulfilled its consultation duties. The local authority’s comments on the Applicant’s consultation will be taken into account when the Acceptance Inspector makes their decision whether to accept the application for Examination. Should the DCO application be accepted by the Inspectorate for examination, the applicant has a duty to notify the local community when providing information on how to register as an Interested Party for the purpose of the process. The process under the PA2008 has been designed to allow members of the public and statutory stakeholders to participate in examination of all DCO applications so that anyone interested in the proposed developments, their potential impacts and any relevant matters can be fully engaged in the examination process. Once the examination begins, the Examining Authority will assess all information submitted in the application documents and will consider whether the Applicant has provided the necessary level of information. The Planning Inspectorate has produced several Advice Notes to help provide an overview of the PA2008 process and the opportunities to get involved. They are available at the following link: attachment 1 The following are particularly relevant: Advice Note 8: ‘Overview of the nationally significant infrastructure planning process for members of the public and others’. Advice Note 8.1: ‘Responding to the developer’s pre-application consultation’ Advice Note 8.2: ‘How to register to participate in an Examination’. Please be assured that anyone interested in the proposed developments, their potential impacts and any planning matters can be fully engaged in the examination process. A copy of your correspondence has been placed on our records and will be presented to the Inspector at acceptance together with the application documents and Local Authorities’ comments on the Applicant’s consultation. With regard to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, please refer to the Planning Inspectorate’s published guidance which will be updated as the situation develops. attachment 2 We have also published a Frequently Asked Questions document regarding Pre-application consultation and this can be viewed on our website here: attachment 3