For Attn of The Planning Inspector Good Afternoon, Burton by Lincoln Parish Council have been advised of the above planning projects which are to come before the Planning Inspectorate. The Parish Council are concerned about the nature of these applications and the impact that they will have on the area. We therefore would wish the attached document be put before the Planning Inspector for their consideration when dealing with these applications. As the same concerns relate to all applications as they are similar in nature, we would forward it in relation to all in one email rather than individual responses. We trust that this approach is acceptable. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to be in contact. Kind regards.

Thank you for your email. The Planning Inspectorate administers the Planning Act 2008 process prior to the relevant Government department making the final decisions on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) applications. As the solar NSIP applications proposals are still at the pre-application stage of the Planning Act 2008 process, we strongly advise you to provide your comments on the proposals directly to the Applicants, at this stage. Responding to an Applicant’s pre-application consultation is the best way to influence a proposal, as the Applicant has a duty to have regard to responses to statutory pre-application consultation, ahead of submitting their application to the Planning Inspectorate. I note from your correspondence that ‘The Parish Council are concerned about the nature of these applications and the impact that they will have on the area’. Applicants of projects of this scale are required to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and produce an Environmental Statement (ES). As part of the EIA process, the Applicant is required to undertake a cumulative effects assessment. National Policy Statements provide the primary basis for making NSIP decisions. The Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) states at paragraph 4.2.5 that: ‘When considering cumulative effects, the ES should provide information on how the effects of the applicant’s proposal would combine and interact with the effects of other development (including projects for which consent has been sought or granted, as well as those already in existence)’. EN-1 can be found on this link: attachment 1 It is likely that a draft form of the cumulative effects assessment will be, or has been published by the Applicant at the pre-application stage for comment, as part of their statutory consultation (within their Preliminary Environmental Information report). For more information on cumulative effects assessment, I have provided a link to the Planning Inspectorate’s advice note 17: attachment 2 Each NSIP application can be found under the ‘Projects’ section of our website: attachment 3. You can sign up for email updates on the individual project specific webpages for any application you are interested in. To ensure your views are read by an Examining Authority, you will need to register as an Interested Party for each application at the appropriate stage. If an application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and subsequently accepted to proceed to examination, you will have the opportunity to make comments about the merits of the Proposed Development to an appointed Examining Authority. To do this, you will need to register as an Interested Party by making a Relevant Representation at the appropriate time for each NSIP application you are interested in. You will have a minimum of 28 days to register as an Interested Party and can do so on the project specific webpage. For more information about how and when you can have your say, please see our Advice Note 8.2: How to register to participate in an Examination: attachment 4 I hope you have found the above information to be helpful.