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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
Dear Sir/Madam, We have had an EIA Screening Request relating to the addition of a 50MW black start facility to an existing 900MW gas fired power station. Given the scale of the project, could you advise whether this is something that the National Infrastructure Planning Unit would deal with please? Kind regards,
Advice given
Dear Ms Hanlon Under section 14(1) of the Planning Act 2008, as amended (PA 2008), the construction or extension of a generating station is defined as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (‘NSIP’). Section 15(2) of PA2008 provides that the construction or extension of an onshore generating station in England is within section 14(1)(a) only if the generating station is, or (when constructed or extended) does not generate electricity from wind; and its capacity is more than 50 megawatts. The project would therefore appear to fall under PA2008 however the Council will need to satisfy itself, taking its own legal advice if appropriate, as to whether or not any proposal submitted to it can be considered and determined by the local planning authority under any regime other than the development consent regime provided for by PA2008. It should be noted that, under Section 160 of PA2008, it is an offence if a “person carries out, or causes to be carried out, development for which development consent is required at a time when no development consent is in force in respect of the development”. If the Council are minded to conclude that the project is an NSIP, you need to explain to the Applicant why you consider this proposal to be an NSIP and suggest the Applicant contact the Inspectorate to discuss the NSIP process. Please note that the Inspectorate has a statutory duty to record and make publicly available any advice given under s51 of the PA 2008. If you wish to seek any further advice in relation to the NSIP planning regime and these proposals, please contact us at this email address. Regards
