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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
1. Please can PINS confirm that RiverOak Strategic Partner’s new application [for s53 authorisation] will be treated as an application by an entirely new and separate commercial entity?
2. Please can PINS clarify at what stage in proceedings the credibility or otherwise of the applicant will be assessed, and how PINS assesses whether or not it has an applicant that is in a credible and sound position to consider: “a distinct project of real substance genuinely requiring entry onto the land”?
Advice given
1. The Planning Inspectorate can confirm that the new application for authorisation under s53 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) will be decided on the basis of the information provided by the applicant, RiverOak Strategic Partners Ltd, and in the consideration of any comments made to the Planning Inspectorate by the relevant landowner.
2. The Planning Inspectorate’s Advice note 5: Rights of entry explains how decisions are made in respect of applications for authorisation to enter land under s53 of the PA2008. All of the Planning Inspectorate’s advice notes are available to view on its website, here: attachment 1
Section 53(1) of the PA2008 permits the Secretary of State to authorise entry for the purpose of surveying and taking levels or to facilitate compliance with the provisions in subsection 53(1A) in connection with an application for an order granting development consent, a proposed application for an order granting development consent, or an order granting development consent that includes provision authorising the compulsory acquisition of that land or of an interest in it or right over it.
If authorisation is sought in relation to a proposed application for an order granting development consent (subsection 1(b)) section 53(2) of the PA2008 states that:
(2) Authorisation may be given by the Secretary of State under subsection (1)(b) in relation to any land only if it appears to the Secretary of State that—
(a) the proposed applicant is considering a distinct project of real substance genuinely requiring entry onto the land
Any application(s) for authorisation to enter land at the former Manston Airport under s53 of the PA2008 will be considered and decided against the statutory tests set out in the legislation in consideration of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s ‘Planning Act 2008: The Infrastructure Planning (Fees) Regulations 2010 - Guidance’ (March 2017) and in accordance with the Planning Inspectorate’s advice notes.
Any subsequent application for a Development Consent Order will be considered for acceptance against the statutory tests in s55 of the PA2008. The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulation 2009 require applicants to submit a Funding Statement, if the proposed Development Consent Order would authorise the Compulsory Acquisition of land, indicating how the Compulsory Acquisition is proposed to be funded. Concurrently, the Department for Communities and Local Governments’ ‘Planning Act 2008: Guidance related to procedures for the compulsory acquisition of land’ states that the Funding Statement should “demonstrate that adequate funding is likely to be available to enable the Compulsory Acquisition within the statutory period following the order being made, and that the resource implications of a possible acquisition resulting from a blight notice have been taken account of.”
If an application for a Development Consent Order is accepted for examination matters of funding may be examined by the appointed Examining Authority.
