We are the umbrella community campaign group for residents along the 180km route of East Anglia GREEN. On 16 June we submitted an 80-page technical response to the non-statutory consultation. It detailed numerous environmental and legal issues. With it we submitted a legal opinion from Charles Banner KC and a survey completed by 2,500 people. Our petition, calling for an integrated offshore grid instead of overhead lines, has been signed by 22,000 people. We will be participating at every stage of the process as the DCO progresses through the system. We have prepared, in consultation with Mr Banner, a submission to this East Anglia GREEN scoping report consultation, which I attach. It sets out, in particular, our concerns that the legal deficiencies set out by Mr Banner relating to the non-statutory consultation have now infected the scoping report. The result is that an Environmental Statement which is produced from this scoping report will also be deficient. These are real and serious concerns and although we are aware that the consultation is targeted at statutory consultees we request that our submission be considered by the Inspector and published on the portal. We look forward to hearing from you.

Before adopting a Scoping Opinion, the Planning Inspectorate, under the terms of Regulation 10 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the EIA Regulations), has a duty to consult: • a body prescribed under section 42(1)(a) of the Planning Act 2008 (duty to consult) and listed in column 1 of the table set out in Schedule 1 to the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 where the circumstances set out in column 2 of that table are satisfied in respect of that body; • each authority that is within section 43 of the Planning Act 2008 (local authorities for purposes of section 42(1)(b)); and • if the land to which the application, or proposed application, relates or any part of that land is in Greater London, the Greater London Authority. The Planning Inspectorate also has a duty to notify certain bodies under Regulation 11 of the EIA Regulations of their duty under the Regulations to make available to the Applicant (National Grid Electricity Transmission) information they possess which is considered relevant to the preparation of the ES. These legal duties are what the recent consultation by the Inspectorate has been based upon and we do not contact any additional parties. Under the criteria set out above Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons is not a consultation body for the purposes of EIA Scoping and therefore we are not able to take your comments into account in the Scoping Opinion. The Applicant has their own duty to undertake a wide consultation to inform their Application under the Planning Act. I encourage you and your membership to make your comments on the Scoping Report available to the Applicant if you have not already done so, or via your local councils and/or parish councils, who are consultation bodies for the purposes of the regulations. I thought it would be useful to clarify some points in your response: • An Inspector (as part of the Examining Authority) is not appointed until an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) has been submitted and accepted for examination. • Non-statutory consultation is a voluntary process undertaken by the Applicant and is not defined within the Planning Act 2008. The Applicant must undertake statutory consultation in the form prescribed in the Planning Act 2008 and the EIA Regulations prior to making an application. The Applicant’s consultation report to be submitted with its application will need to demonstrate how consultation responses have been taken into account. • An Environmental Statement (ES) will accompany the application. This will need to meet the legal requirements of the EIA Regulations and will follow the issue of a Scoping Opinion and statutory consultation in respect of Preliminary Environmental Information. The Planning Inspectorate has published a series of advice notes that you may find useful, which are available on the National Infrastructure Planning website: attachment 1. In particular, our Advice Note Eight provides an overview of the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the various opportunities for you to participate in the process.