Should an adequacy of consultation representation include an assessment of the developer having regard to views expressed during the course of their consultation (under s49 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008))?

In general, it is for the relevant parties to determine the content of their adequacy of consultation representation. However, s55(5) of PA 2008 defines an adequacy of consultation representation as "a representation about whether the applicant complied [...] with the applicant?s duties under sections 42, 47 and 48". Thus, whilst any comments beyond this will be made available to the s55 Commissioner(s), they are not required by statute to have regard to them in deciding whether or not the relevant duty has been met.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) guidance for Local Authorities (section 7) provides some guidance about what to include in adequacy of consultation representations. In particular, paragraph 51 states:
"It will be for the local authority concerned to decide what it wishes to include in any ?adequacy of consultation? representations, but it is our intention that this will not be used to focus on the merits of the application itself. The purpose of ?adequacy of consultation? representations is to assist the IPC in deciding whether or not to accept an application for further examination ? and it is at this later stage that issues about the merits of the application will be looked at."