Register of advice

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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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 received via email

General

12 May 2023
Panos Konidaris

Enquiry

Enquiry in relation to a high security control centre.   Section 14 of the 2008 Planning Act sets out the projects which may be considered to be NSIP and the above development does not appear to be included, and therefore I believe that it should not be treated as a NSIP. However, their definition (NSIP vs CNI) is quite similar so it is a little confusing to me and I was also told that plans showing the location of important rooms (i.e. server rooms) should be redacted if published in the public domain. Therefore, I would appreciate if you could confirm whether a project classed as CNI should not be treated in the same way than NSIPs are when trying to secure planning permission.  

Advice given

Development consent under the PA2008 is required for development to the extent that the development is or forms part of a nationally significant infrastructure project. It is the responsibility of the potential applicant to seek their own legal advice on whether a proposed development is or forms part of a nationally significant infrastructure project. The Planning Inspectorate does not give legal advice on such matters. However, it may be useful to know that the Secretary of State may give a direction for development to be treated as development for which development consent is required under section 35 of PA2008. In relation to your question seeking clarification on ‘whether a project classed as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) should not be treated in the same way than NSIPs are when trying to secure planning permission’ you may wish to seek your own legal advice