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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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.
General
Enquiry
Good Afternoon, I am doing some research around Strategic Rail Freight Interchange. I found a recent article covering the refused Rail Freight Interchange in North Yorkshire outside Sherburn. (Developer Harworth Group). In the article it states that the LPA (Selby District Council) refused it in March last year. It has then gone to Appeal and Inspector Kevin Ward dismissed the Appeal. The enquiry/ question I have is that my understanding is that a SRFI like this would go through the Planning Inspectorate and then to Secretary of State as a NSIPs. I just wondered why the Local Authority in this case were able to refuse this in the first instance? What factors/criteria were different? I have little knowledge in this area and just wondered if you could provide some information? Kind Regards
Advice given
Good morning Thank you for your email. Section 26 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) sets out the criteria for Rail Freight Interchanges (RFI) to quality as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). The NSIP process involves an application for development consent, which is made to the Planning Inspectorate; there is no application to a Local Planning Authority beforehand. The relevant subsections are: (3)The land on which the rail freight interchange is situated must— (a)be in England, and (b)be at least 60 hectares in area. (4)The rail freight interchange must be capable of handling— (a)consignments of goods from more than one consignor and to more than one consignee, and (b)at least 4 goods trains per day. (5)The rail freight interchange must be part of the railway network in England. (6)The rail freight interchange must include warehouses to which goods can be delivered from the railway network in England either directly or by means of another form of transport. (7)The rail freight interchange must not be part of a military establishment Any application for an RFI which does not meet this criteria falls to be considered under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and an application is made to the relevant Local Authority(ies) in the first instance. If that application is refused, the Applicant has a right of appeal under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Unfortunately, as this application was not submitted as an NSIP, we are unable to comment any further on your query. However, hopefully this response will be of assistance to you in understanding the difference in consenting regimes. You may also wish to view our suite of Advice Notes (in particular the 8 series) which provides for information on NSIPs. Yours sincerely
