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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
We have comments, observations and complaints about the recent non-statutory consultation events held by RiverOak
Advice given
The purpose of this response is to provide further information to you about the pre-application consultation process; explain the mechanisms by which you can make observations about RiverOak’s consultation exercises; and outline the tests that will be applied to any formal application in respect of the adequacy of statutory consultation.
In the first instance I would strongly emphasise that any comments, observations or complaints regarding any element of RiverOak’s proposals should be made directly to the developer. I understand that RiverOak have stated their intention to consider the responses to consultations in a Consultation Report that will form part of any application for a Development Consent Oder. Making the developer aware of these concerns at this point will give them the opportunity to consider the comments made before any statutory consultation starts.
Before RiverOak can submit an application they will have to undertake a round of statutory consultation. The Planning Act 2008 and associated guidance places specific duties on developers to carry out consultation to a satisfactory standard. In the case of consultation with local communities, a Statement of Community Consultation (or SoCC) must be prepared by the developer that sets out how they intend to consult with local communities. The developer must consult with relevant authorities about the content of the SoCC – in this case RiverOak must consult Thanet District Council and Kent County Council. The role of those authorities can be to provide expertise about the make-up of its area, including whether people in the area might have particular needs or requirements, whether the authority has identified any groups as difficult to reach and what techniques might be appropriate to overcome barriers to communication. Those authorities may also provide advice on the appropriateness of the developer’s suggested consultation techniques and methods. The authorities’ aim in such discussions should be to ensure that the people affected by the development can take part in a thorough, accessible and effective consultation exercise about the proposed project. To that end you may wish to make Thanet District Council or Kent County Council aware of your comments.
If an application is formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, we are required to test whether or not the developer has carried out its statutory community consultation in accordance with the Statement of Community Consultation, and also whether or not the developer has had regard to any consultation responses received from the relevant authorities in respect of the SoCC. The developer will also be required to demonstrate how it has had regard to any relevant responses made to the consultation from the community. At this point, each relevant authority (Thanet District Council and Kent County Council) will be invited to make a representation expressing its opinion about whether the developer has complied with its pre-application consultation duties under s42, s47 and s48 of the PA2008 (an ‘adequacy of consultation representation’).
In conclusion, your comments on RiverOak’s non-statutory consultation have been noted by the Planning Inspectorate and will kept on record for future reference. However, you should continue to provide any observations about the scheme and the consultation process directly to the developer, and where appropriate and specifically related to the consultation process, to your local authority.
RiverOak’s contact details: [email protected] or 07717802935
Thanet District Council’s contact details: [email protected] including “RiverOak” in the subject line to avoid confusion with other airport related proposals/applications etc.
