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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
It seems to me that the powers granted under the 2008 planning act were really supposed to speed up the planning process for major infrastructure designated by government as essential to the future of the country. These powers are extremely developer friendly and should therefore only be used by developers of significant size with relevant experience of delivering projects of the type designated. Looking at the usual applicants for a DCO they generally meet these conditions, but it seems the legislation allows anyone, even me, to apply for a DCO even though they might have no balance sheet assets or experience of operating successfully within the respective area. I don't believe this can have been the objective of the legislation and wondered therefore how the current legislation could be challenged and changed so it is used more appropriately as I believe was intended.
Advice given
You would need to take your own legal advice is respect of this matter.
The Planning Inspectorate can issue advice about:
• Apply for an order granting development consent; or
• Making representations about an application for development consent.
