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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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.
The Sizewell C Project View all advice for this project
Enquiry
Can you please clarify for me whether local Parish Councils directly affected or in Parishes adjacent to the proposed Sizewell C development are considered by PINS as statutory consultees?
In the Infrastructure Planning Regulations 2009 in Schedule there is a note to the table which states:
relevant”, in relation to a body, shall mean the body which has responsibility for the location where the proposals may or will be sited or has responsibility for an area which neighbours that location.
Also in the PINS document “Sizewell C proposed nuclear development scoping opinion” published in June 2014, PINS consulted the following organisations under the collective group:
The Relevant Parish Council(s) or Relevant Community Council
ORGANISATION
Aldringham cum Thorpe Parish Council
Benhall and Sternfield Parish Council
Blaxhall Parish Council
Blythburgh Parish Council
Bramfield and Thorington Parish Council
Campsea Ashe Parish Council
Darsham Parish Council
Dunwich Parish Meeting
Easton Parish Council
Farnham with Stratford St Andrew Parish Council
Great Glemham Parish Council
Hacheston Parish Council
Kelsale cum Carlton Parish Council
Knodishall Parish Council
Leiston cum Sizewell Town Council
Letheringham Parish Council
Little Glemham Parish Council
Marlesford Parish Council
Middleton Parish Council
Parham Parish Council
Rendham Parish Council
Saxmundham Town Council
Snape Parish Council
Sweffling Parish Council
Theberton and Eastbridge Parish Council
Westleton Parish Council
Wickham Market Parish Council
Yoxford Parish Council
During a meeting with and EDF representative yesterday with councillors present from Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council it was stated that the Parish Council is not a statutory consultee, although we have had a number of discussions and briefings by EDF and others over the past few years.
So please can you confirm whether the 2009 planning act list including Parish Councils, as shown above, is correct or if there has been some amendment to this legislation changing the status of affected Parish Councils either in general or for this particular NSIP.
Advice given
At the time of the scoping request the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 included neighbouring parishes within the relevance test for prescribed consultees with respect to the scoping for the Environmental Statement. However these Regulations have been amended (since April 2013) and now, in England the parish council is only deemed relevant for the purposes of scoping if the project or associated development is within their area.
In terms of statutory consultees, the relevant regulations are The Infrastructure Planning (Interested Parties and Miscellaneous Prescribed Provisions) Regulations 2015. Relevant parish councils are those which have responsibility for the location of the proposed development. However even if the proposed development is not within your parish council you should have the opportunity to participate in any consultation. If the application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and accepted for Examination you will have an opportunity to register the parish council as an Interested Party which will give you the right to participate in the Examination.
