What happens next
A decision on the application for a Development Consent Order for Richborough Connection Project was taken on 03 August 2017 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 (51 items)

Five years after the Secretary of State’s decision is issued, all remaining published documents associated with an application are removed from the National Infrastructure Planning website, with the exception of the following which are retained in line with our document retention policy:
- The Secretary of State’s decision notice and statement of reasons;
- If made, the Development Consent Order;
- The Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report and associated appendices;
- Any material/non-material change decisions;
- Any correction notices; and
- All section 51 advice issued in respect of an application.
As such, the purpose of this banner is to highlight that we will shortly remove all documents, except those listed above.

The Secretary of State has issued a correction order and correction notice for this application.

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application. For further information, please refer to the Secretary of State’s decision letter, the Development Consent Order and the Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report



Responses to the consultation of 9 June 2017 by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have now been published.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy requests comments from the Applicant and the National Farmers’ Union on matters raised by the National Farmers’ Union in its letter of 2 June. Comments from other Interested Parties would also be welcome.
The deadline for any response is 5.00pm on Monday 19 June 2017.

An announcement about the Richborough application will be made in due course.

Responses to the consultation by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have now been published.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued a letter requesting comments from the Applicant, The Crown Estate, South East Water, Dover District Council, Thanet District Council, Canterbury City Council Kent County Council, The Environment Agency, Southern Water Services, UK Power Networks and any other Interested Party.
The deadline for responses is 5.00pm on 11 April 2017


The Examining Authority completed its examination of this application on 8 December 2016. The Examining Authority will now report to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on or before 8 March 2017. View the letter giving notice of the close of examination.

A letter from the Examining Authority giving notification of an examination timetable variation and request for further information has been published.
All Parties are invited to make representations on the information as requested in the letter. The deadline for these representations is Deadline 9 – Tuesday 6 December 2016

The Hearing Action Points lists for the Third Issue Specific Hearing on the draft DCO and the Examining Authority’s record of unaccompanied site inspections up to 9 November 2016 have been published.

Also published are:
– Annex A to the notification letter
– The Report on the Implications for European Sites (RIES)
A Supplementary Agenda for the Third Issue Specific Hearing on the Draft DCO and other matters has also been published.

The audio recordings for day 1 and day 2 of the compulsory acquisition hearing have been published.

A letter from the Examining Authority giving notification of an Issue Specific Hearing in November has been published.

The agenda for the Compulsory Acquisition Hearing to be held on Wednesday 19 October and Thursday 20 October 2016 has been published.

The agendas for the forthcoming Issue Specific Hearings have been published:
Second Issue Specific Hearing on the Development Consent Order – Tuesday 27 September 2016

A letter from the Examining Authority giving Notification of Hearings and its second written questions has been published.
The deadline for responses to the second written questions and to notify the Planning Inspectorate of your wish to speak at any hearing is Deadline 4, 8 September 2016

Submissions received for Deadline 3 (4 August 2016) have been published.
An additional submission from Nethergong Camping has been accepted by the ExA

Audio recordings have been published for the following Hearings:

The Hearing Action Points lists for the first Issue Specific Hearing on the draft DCO and the Issue Specific hearing on the Broad Oak reservoir proposal have been published.

The agendas for the Open Floor Hearings and Issue Specific Hearings on the Development Consent Order and Broad Oak Reservoir have been published.

The itinerary for the accompanied site inspection taking place on 25 and 26 July 2016 has been published.

A letter from the Examining Authority giving Notification of Hearings and the Accompanied Site Inspection has been published.

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


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.

Three additional submissions and three National Grid documents have been published.
The applicant has sent us a letter explaining that some of the notifications that they sent about the opportunity to make relevant representations were returned undelivered and some unknown occupiers of certain properties may not have been served notice.
The applicant has sent or re-sent further notifications to those parties only, and has allowed more time for them to make their representations. If you have received a further notification and wish to make a representation, please contact us at [email protected] or 0303 444 5000.

Relevant representations have been published. The published deadline for the submission of relevant representations has now passed.
The applicant has sent us a letter explaining that some of the notifications that they sent about the opportunity to make relevant representations were returned undelivered and some unknown occupiers of certain properties may not have been served notice.
The applicant has sent or re-sent further notifications to those parties only, and has allowed more time for them to make their representations. If you have received a further notification and wish to make a representation, please contact us at [email protected] or 0303 444 5000.
Three additional submissions have been published


The published deadline for the submission of relevant representations has now passed.
The applicant has sent us a letter explaining that some of the notifications that they sent about the opportunity to make relevant representations were returned undelivered and some unknown occupiers of certain properties may not have been served notice.
The applicant has sent or re-sent further notifications to those parties only, and has allowed more time for them to make their representations. If you have received a further notification and wish to make a representation, please contact us at [email protected] or 0303 444 5000.
The relevant representations submitted for the original deadline will be published shortly.
The Examining Authority has now been appointed.




This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on 14 January 2016.
The applicant has agreed that all application documents can be published as soon as practicable upon submission to help everyone become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed in this application.
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.

This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on 14 January 2016.
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.
