What happens next
A decision on the application for a Development Consent Order for A19 Downhill Lane Junction Improvement was taken on 16 July 2020 and has now been issued.
The period for legal challenge is defined in s118 of the Planning Act 2008. Further information about legal challenge can be found in the letter sent to all Interested Parties accompanying the Secretary of State’s decision and statement of reasons.
If you have any queries about the process please email the Planning Inspectorate at [email protected] or telephone the helpline on 0303 444 5000.
Timeline (34 items)

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:
Planning Inspectorate Notification of Decision Letter
Secretary of State Decision Letter
Development Consent Order as made by the Secretary of State
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report
Regulation 23 Notice



IMPORTANT: As a result of ongoing Government guidance relating to COVID-19 the Planning Inspectorate is seeking to ensure that all Parties are notified of key developments on projects, in a timely manner. In order to help achieve this, and to minimise any delays which could arise if the postal service is affected, it would be extremely helpful if registered Parties that have not already done so could supply us with a contact e-mail address as soon as possible (details in the contact information heading of the project page).
Please be assured that this information will be managed in line with our Privacy Notice.

The Examination closed at 23.59 on 17 January 2020.
Notification of completion of the Examination has been issued and the Examination Library has been updated.


The Examining Authority’s Rule 8(3) Notification of a change to the Examination Timetable and Rule 17 request for further information letter has been published.

Examining Authority Further Written Questions (ExQ2) and Examining Authority Commentary on the draft Development Consent Order (dDCO) have been published.

The Examining Authority’s Rule 8(3) Notification of a change to the Examination Timetable letter has been published.

The Accompanied Site Inspection (ASI) Notification letter has been published. The ASI is taking place on Tuesday 15 October 2019.

The Rule 8 – Notification of timetable for the Examination has now been published along with the Preliminary Meeting note and audio recordings from the Hearings on 13 August.

The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties
Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting

- Preliminary Meeting takes place
- Examination begins

The notification of Preliminary Meeting (Rule 6 letter) has been sent Read the letter
The letter also includes the draft Examination Timetable and Initial Assessment of Principal Issues.



The applicant has sent us a letter explaining a number of persons were not provided with section 56 notifications in error. The applicant has sent notifications to those parties and has allowed time for them to make their representations by Friday 28 June 2019.
If you have received a notification and wish to make a representation, please either use the online form or contact us at [email protected].



This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on 25 January 2019.
The applicant has agreed that all application documents can be published as
soon as practicable to help everyone become familiar with the detail of what
is being proposed in this application. The Planning Inspectorate will therefore
make the application documents available as soon as practicable.
This provision is solely for the purpose of allowing more time to all those who
wish to become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed ahead of
the relevant representation period without lengthening the overall time
required for the application process. There will be no opportunity at this
stage to make comments on the application. However, if the application is
accepted anyone interested in the application will be able to register and
express their views during the relevant representation stage and the
subsequent examination.

