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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
Following the Planning Inspectorate's recent granting of access for RiverOak to the former airport site at Manston, can you confirm if Manston is an asset of national significance.
Advice given
The term ‘asset of national significance’ has no formal status or weight under the Planning Act 2008 process. The Planning Act 2008 defines “Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP)” – if a project is considered to be an NSIP then it must apply under the Planning Act 2008 regime for consent.
Whether or not the proposed Manston Airport development is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project depends upon whether it meets the definition contained in the Planning Act 2008. Airport development is capable of being an NSIP, depending upon its capacity and other factors, and the Applicant has told us that the scheme they propose will be an NSIP. Since no application has yet been made, we cannot say definitively whether or not this particular proposal is an NSIP.
A request or decision made under s53 of the Planning Act 2008 (which has the effect of allowing RiverOak to access the former airfield site to undertake survey work) does not also determine whether any future application would be an NSIP, this decision can only be made at the time a formal application is submitted.
