Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm

Enquiry received via email

Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm

15 November 2013
Ian Sims

Enquiry

1) Is 2nd Dec the deadline for notifying intention to attend or speak at the Open Floor Hearing? If not, is there another deadline for notifying such intention?
2) Will the Open Floor Hearing permit anyone to attend and speak, or is attendance or making oral input restricted to Registered Interested Parties?
3) Will it be advertised in local press?

Advice given

Agendas for hearings will be published on the Clocaenog website as soon as practicable. I draw your attention to the DCLG document ?Planning Act 2008: Guidance for the examination of applications for development consent?. Under section 94 of the Planning Act 2008, it is for the Examining Authority to determine how hearings are to be conducted and Interested Parties will be given at least 21 days? notice of the date, time and place fixed for the holding of the hearing as well as the subject matter for the hearing (para 77, 86). The hearing items to be examined will be decided by the Examining Authority at its discretion. Moreover, as DCLG guidance states:
'[?] the applicant is required to publish a notice of the hearing in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality in which the land in question is situated. Secondly, the applicant is required to post a notice of the hearing in places near to the location of the proposed development, and, where within the control of the applicant, post a notice of the hearing on the land itself so as to be visible and legible to members of the public. The published or posted notices must state the place, date and time of the hearing; the relevant section of the Planning Act under which the application has been made; sufficient description of the proposals in the application to identify their location with or without reference to a specified map; and details of a place where a copy of the application and relevant documents can be inspected (para 78, 79).'
As stated in the Examining Authority?s letter, interested parties wishing to attend and speak at an open-floor or issue-specific hearing are required to notify the case team by the deadline of 2 December 2013. Again, it is at the discretion of the Examining Authority to allow any other person who is not an interested party to make an oral representation at a hearing. Meetings are held in public but to ensure that we can plan for this properly we ask that everyone who wants to attend each session tells us in advance by contacting the case team. If the venue has limited capacity, the Planning Inspectorate may need to offer interested parties a seat ahead of other members of the general public.