The Secretary of State has made a Correction Order (PDF, 145 KB) affecting the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Dualling Development Consent Order 2021.

A Correction Notice (PDF, 45 KB) was issued on 20 May 2021. The corrections to the Order are applied following a request from the Applicant dated 10 February 2021 (PDF, 133 KB).

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 (PDF, 130KB)
Secretary of State Decision Letter (PDF, 487KB)
Development Consent Order as made by the Secretary of State (PDF, 2MB)
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report (PDF, 5MB)
Post-Examination Submission Log (PDF, 4MB)
Regulation 31 Notice (PDF, 83KB)

The responses to the Secretary of State’s letter of 12 November 2020 have now been published.

The Secretary of State for Transport has invited comments from the Applicant and Defence Infrastructure Organisation in relation to the issue of bird strike. The deadline of 11th December 2020 has been given for any response.

To allow time for the parties to submit further information by 11th December 2020, the Secretary of State has set a new deadline of 29 January 2021 for his decision on this application. The Secretary of State has asked the Planning Inspectorate to facilitate the consultation process via the project page of the National Infrastructure Planning website.

The responses to the Secretary of State’s letter dated 19 August 2020 requesting comments from all Interested Parties have now been published.

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation of 21 July 2020 have now been published.

The Secretary of State for Transport has invited comments from all Interested Parties on the Applicant’s response (PDF 125kb) by 16 September 2020.

The Secretary of State for Transport is minded to refuse this application subject to further information or evidence from the Applicant on a number of specific issues. Published alongside this letter is a copy of the Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report and the Post-Examination Submissions received between 13 June 2019 to 21 July 2020.

To allow time for the Applicant to submit further information by 18 August 2020 and to allow for consultation on the further information with Interested Parties, the Secretary of State has set a new deadline of 20 November 2020 for his decision on this application. The Secretary of State has asked the Planning Inspectorate to facilitate the consultation process via the project page of the National Infrastructure Planning website.”

The A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Dualling Development Consent application remains with the Secretary of State for consideration.

A Statement has been laid in Parliament setting a new deadline of 17 July 2020 to enable further work to be carried out before the application is determined by the Secretary of State.

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.

Responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation have been published.

In light of the general election, the original decision date of 12 December 2019 for the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Dualling Development Consent Order application will now be postponed until a new Government is appointed. A Statement to Parliament setting a new deadline for a decision will be made once Parliament is in session.

The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on 12 September 2019. The decision letter and Recommendation Report will be published on this project page once a decision has been made

The Secretary of State for Transport has requested comments from the Applicant by 26th November 2019.

A Notification of completion of the Examining Authority’s Examination and Rule 8(3) – Notification of a change to the Examination Timetable have been published.

The Examination closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 12 June 2019.

The Submissions for Deadline 8 have now been published

The Examining Authority has issued a Rule 17 – Request for further information from the Applicant following receipt of the Deadline 8 submission.

The Examining Authority has issued the following requests for further information:

• Rule 17 – Request for further information following receipt of the Deadline 7 submissions
• Rule 17 – Request for further information from the Applicant in relation to the Statement of Reasons

The Submissions for Deadline 7 have now been published.

The Audio recordings and Action Points form Hearings held on 23 May have now been published.

The Action Points from Issue Specific Hearings 5 and 6 have been published.

Please note that Issue Specific Hearing 6 will continue on the afternoon of Thursday 23 May 2019, recommencing at 13:30 hours.

Agendas for the hearings on 23 May 2019 have been published. Please note that Issue Specific Hearing 6 will continue on the afternoon of Thursday 23 May 2019, recommencing at 13:30 hours.

The Examining Authority has issued a procedural decision in relation to the Non-Material Change Request dated 30 April 2019.

The Agendas for ISH5, ISH6 and OFH3 have been published along with the Submissions for Deadline 6a.

The Submissions for Deadline 6 have now been published.

The Examining Authority’s Additional Written Questions have now been published.

The Examining Authority has issued a procedural decision in relation to the Additional Land Application which includes notification of hearings taking place on 23 May and amendments to the Examination time table.

The Notification of Hearings being held in May 2019 and the Report on the Implications for European Sites (RIES) have now been published.

The Submissions for Deadline 5 have now been published.

The Examination Authority’s Further Written Questions have been published and responses are required by 5 April 2019.

A Procedural Decision has been issued relating to the Applicant’s Non-Material Change request.

Following the Examining Authority’s decision to accept the Additional Land Application for examination, comments are now invited on the Applicant’s proposed provision before Monday 22 April 2019. Any comments must be made on the Registration and Relevant Representation Form and must relate to the Applicant’s application for Additional Land only.

A Procedural Decision has been issued relating to the Applicant’s Non-Material Change request.

Following the Examining Authority’s decision to accept the Additional Land Application for examination, comments are now invited on the Applicant’s proposed provision before Monday 22 April 2019. Any comments must be made on the Registration and Relevant Representation Form and must relate to the Applicant’s application for Additional Land only.

The Deadline 4 Submissions have been published.

The Examining Authority has issued a request for further information and a request for clarification on the further information submitted.

The Examining Authority has issued a notification letter about their procedural decision to accept the proposed provision for the compulsory acquisition of additional land and the proposed design changes.

The Examining Authority has issued a request for further information regarding the Additional Land Application and The Audio for Issue Specific Hearings 1 and 2 have now been published.

Recordings of the Issue Specific Hearings held on 26 February 2019 and 27 February have been published.

The Action Points from the issue specific, open floor and compulsory acquisition hearings held between Tuesday 26 February and 1 March 2019 have been published.

An Unaccompanied Site Inspection Note has now been published.

The Applicant, Highways England, submitted a letter on 18 February 2019 requesting a change to the accepted application.

Interested parties are asked to continue to provide written representations on the original application, accepted on 23 August 2018, in line with the Examination Timetable. If the requested change is accepted into the Examination by the Examining Authority it will be the subject of separate consultation with a separate deadline for representations.

Agendas for the Issue Specific Hearings, Compulsory Acquisition Hearing 1 (CAH1) and Open Floor Hearing 2 (OFH2) have now been published.

The Deadline 3 Submissions and ASI Itinerary have been published.

The notification of hearings being held from the 26 February 2019 – 1 March 2019 have now been published.

Deadline 2 Submissions have been published.

Deadline 1 Submissions have been published.

The Recordings of the Preliminary Meeting and Open Floor Hearing, along with an Unaccompanied Site Inspection Note have now been published.

Procedural Decision by the Examining Authority has been published.