Mr Shapps I am a resident of Canvey Island - it is a small island in the Thames estuary below sea level with over 45,000 residents and growing!; I have a great concern over the Oikos expansion plan. This site is extremely close to thousands of residential properties, on an island with only two bridges and one main road which leads to the exit routes making a mass evacuation impossible! Traffic is an issue on usual working days! We have no evacuation plan. The local council Castle Point is currently being investigated for corruption and my concern is with covid and all the corruption this expansion will be overlooked. I think I am correct in comparing this site to Buncfield - should an explosion happen this will devestate the whole Island as well as our sea defences, local beaches which are frequented frequently and cause pollution to the River Thames. The site is on our sea wall path which is a busy route for walkers/cycling. I wanted to raise my concerns with you as I believe you have to be included on the consultation for a development consent order. I think the residents of Canvey have been poorly represented by Castle Point Council and I have grave concern for all my family and friends who live on Canvey Island. Many thanks for taking the time to read my email, I hope it will help you make a better informed decision for granting or refusing a consent order.

Thank you for your recent e-mail in relation to the proposed Oikos Marine and South Side Development project, which is currently in the Pre-Application stage and the application for development consent has not yet been submitted. The Applicant is currently carrying out its Statutory Consultation, which launched on 6 April 2021. It is understood, from the Applicant’s website, that the deadline for consultation responses is 11:59 on 18 May 2021. An Application is expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in Quarter 3, 2021. Please note that the Pre-Application consultation process is entirely led by the Applicant, who are responsible for ensuring that they comply with the legislative requirements surrounding consultation, which are set out in the Planning Act 2008. This includes a legal requirement for the Applicant to consult with Statutory Bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Your e-mail to Mr Shapps provides your comments on the merits of the Proposed Development, which the Applicant is seeking during this consultation. As such, if you have not already done so, it is important that you make these comments directly to the Applicant. If you are not satisfied that the Applicant is taking them into account you should raise this with the Local Authority also. For further information, please see the Planning Inspectorate’s advice note 8.1 on Responding to the developers pre-application consultation. Ways to get involved with the Applicant’s Statutory Consultation It appears from the Applicant’s website that they are introducing alternative ways for members of the public to engage in the consultation, whilst restrictions on social gatherings are in place. I have taken the information below from the Applicant’s website to assist you: Register for one of the online webinars: You can also register by calling 0800 206 2583. The events include a question and answer session and are taking place on: Monday 26th April, 11am – 2pm Thursday 29 April, 9am – 1pm Tuesday 4 May, 6pm – 9pm Saturday 8 May, 8am – 11am Visit the virtual exhibition room Book a telephone surgery – project surgery appointments can be booked with a member of the Applicant’s project team to talk through questions and issues relating to the project. Please email [email protected] or call 0800 206 2583 if you would like to book an appointment. Written comments can also be submitted via email: [email protected], or by post: OIKOS FREEPOST (must be written in capitals and no stamp is required). Further information on the project, including their consultation activities, documents, feedback forms and how to submit your comments are available on the OMSSD website at www.oikos.co.uk/omssd/consultation Information about the Planning Inspectorate’s remit once the Application is submitted When an application is formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination, an assessment is made on whether it is of a satisfactory standard to proceed to an Examination. One key element of this assessment is to check whether the Applicant has fulfilled its statutory consultation duties. In order to help make an informed decision on this matter the Planning Inspectorate writes to all host and neighbouring Local Authorities for their views on the adequacy of the consultation. The Applicant is also statutorily required to demonstrate in its submitted application where they have shown regard to responses received during their period of statutory consultation. If the Application has been accepted for Examination, you will be able to register as an Interested Party and make Relevant Representations for the Examining Authority to consider. Please read the Planning Inspectorate’s advice note on How to Register to participate in an Examination for further information. The Examining Authority will make an initial assessment of the issues arising from the submitted application as well as from the Relevant Representations, which will inform their Examination of the proposed development. In order to assist parties in understanding the Planning Act 2008 process, the Planning Inspectorate has prepared a suite of Advice Notes, which are available on our website. The Advice Note 8 series provide an overview of the examination of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects for members of the public. Hopefully you will find these of assistance. You may wish to note that the Planning Inspectorate has set up a project page for the Oikos scheme. All documents received and issued during the course of the Examination will be published to this page. I hope this e-mail is of assistance. Kind regards