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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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.
Enquiry
When the Jurassic Coast was given World Heritage status, by UNESCO the UK govt was charged with ensuring its status in perpetuity against massive industrial development. The proposed Wind Farm in Poole Bay, Dorset, with a minimum of 194-plus towers and turbines, 200m tall, if allowed to proceed will totally wreck the superb landscape/seascape of the Jurassic Coast. And all towns along the coast. UNESCO has stated that if the development proceeds, it will withdraw its natural World Heritage status, the only one in Britain, on a par with the Grand Canyon, USA. All local organisations and town councils are against it and it will ruin one of the most protected coastal landscapes of Durlston which is an AONB plus many SSI's and a vast area of Purbeck and coastal landscape which visitors come from far and wide to enjoy. I believe the British government is not doing enough to protect this area of AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), and is reneging on its duty to protect this area.
Advice given
Thank you for your email to the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Cameron of 15
October 2014 in relation to the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Park.
Your letter has been passed to me as it relates to a proposed nationally significant
infrastructure project (NSIP). I have been asked to reply as the Planning Inspectorate,
as the agency of the Department for Communities and Local Government responsible
for examining NSIP applications for development consent under the Planning Act 2008
(the PA2008).
Offshore generating stations in England or Wales that have a capacity of more than
100 megawatts are classified as NSIPs. Therefore, for any development of this nature
and above the threshold an applicant is obliged to submit an application to the
relevant Secretary of State for development consent under the PA2008. As you are
aware this application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 10 April 2014,
and was then subsequently accepted for examination on 8 May 2014.
I note that you made a ?relevant representation? within the correct period which closed
on 23 June 2014, and you are therefore registered as an ?interested party? in the
examination. This gives members of the public an opportunity to participate in the
examination of the application.
The Secretary of State appointed the ?Examining Authority? to examine the
application. As you may be aware the Examining Authority reviewed the application
and all relevant representations and identified the principal issues for examination.
Following this, the Planning Inspectorate invited all interested parties to attend a
meeting, known as the Preliminary Meeting, which was held to consider how the
application will be examined. The meeting included questions and answers about the key issues that will need to be examined, the timetable for the examination and other
important organisational details.
The Examining Authority will now investigate the merits of the application during the
examination stage which started the day after the close of the Preliminary Meeting.
The meeting was held on 11 September 2014, at Tregonwell Hall, Bournemouth
International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5BH.
The Examining Authority has a statutory duty to complete its examination within 6
months. The examination is a formal legal process, during which careful consideration
is given to all the important and relevant matters, including the representations of all
interested parties, any evidence submitted and answers provided to questions set out
in writing and explained at hearings.
Within three months of the six month examination period closing the Examining
Authority must prepare a report on the application to the relevant Secretary of State,
in this case the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The report will
include a recommendation. The Secretary of State then has a further three months to
make the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.
The Planning Inspectorate has published a series of advice notes which explain the
process, including information on how to get involved. These are available at the
following web address: attachment 1
advice-notes You may wish to sign up on this webpage to receive email alerts
on the progress of the project.