Guidance on procedural requirements for major infrastructure projects
Guidance on certain consultation and publicity requirements of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime.
Applies to England
Changes to certain publicity requirements have been introduced through the Infrastructure Planning (Publication and Notification of Applications etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (the 2020 Regulations). The 2020 Regulations came into force on 31 December 2020 1 .
The 2020 Regulations have amended certain requirements relating to the publication of notices, and the giving of notice, about how relevant documents are available for inspection. These regulations amend requirements relating to:
- Proposed and accepted applications for a Development Consent Order (DCO);
- Applications for non-material changes to a DCO;
- Proposed and actual applications to make a material change to, or revocation of a DCO and amendments proposed to DCOs in exceptional circumstances;
- A proposal to include in the DCO the compulsory purchase of additional land which was not identified and included in the book of reference at the time of the DCO application and which has not been consented to by all persons with an interest in the proposed additional land;
- Accepted applications for a DCO where a screening opinion may not have taken account of all relevant information or an environmental statement may be inadequate; and/or
- A subsequent application for development which requires an updated environmental statement or further information in addition to the updated environmental statement.
The amendments have been introduced to enable a more digital and efficient consenting regime for major infrastructure.
Status of guidance
This guidance is non-statutory except where it applies to the pre-application process stage. In those instances, this guidance is statutory pursuant to section 50 of the Planning Act 2008 and prospective applicants must have regard to this and other guidance issued about the preapplication process. This will be taken into account when deciding whether to accept applications for examination.
Making documentation available for inspection
The 2020 Regulations remove the obligations on applicants (or the Secretary of State, as the case may be) to include in relevant notices the addresses (including at least one address in the vicinity of the relevant project) where certain documentation is available for inspection. Instead, notices published by applicants must specify that the documents are available free of charge on a website, the address of the website and details of how the documents may be obtained from that website. Applicants are also required to provide a telephone number for general enquiries on where to find relevant information and on the documentation itself.
Applicants should ensure the relevant website is well signposted when publishing their notices and that the documents are readily accessible, i.e. documents should be clearly named and logically structured. Where needing to refer to a website maintained by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, we expect applicants to refer to the relevant project webpage on the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website.
As is currently the case, and subject to any charge that may be made, hard copies of any of the relevant documents must be provided by the applicant or the Secretary of State (as the case may be) on request.
Applicants should engage proactively with local authorities and local communities to find alternative means to provide access to the documentation where required, to ensure on-going fair participation in the planning process, for example by providing copies of documents on a USB flash drive where parties have access to a computer but have limited or no internet access or, where reasonably practicable, by making copies of documents available for inspection free of charge where a person is unable to access the documentation electronically or finds it difficult to do so.
The following guidance sets out how other consultation and publicity requirements that apply to schemes coming forwards under the Planning Act 2008 can be met during the coronavirus pandemic:
Statement of Community Consultation
Section 47(6) of the Planning Act 2008 requires that at the pre-application stage the Statement of Community Consultation must be made available for inspection. This requirement can be met by making documents available for inspection online. Applicants should take reasonable steps to ensure that anyone wishing to view the documentation can find these documents on their website. Hard copies should be made available by the applicant on request.
Development Consent Orders granting compulsory acquisition powers
At the post-consent stage, where a Development Consent Order grants authority to acquire compulsorily an interest in land, section 134(3) of the Planning Act 2008 requires that a copy of the DCO must be made available for inspection. This requirement can be met by making documents available for inspection online. Applicants should take reasonable steps to ensure that anyone wishing to view the documentation can find these documents on their website. Hard copies should be made available by the applicant on request.
Similarly, equivalent requirements that apply when a material change to a DCO grants authority to compulsorily acquire an interest in land can be met by making documents available for inspection online. Applicants should take reasonable steps to ensure that anyone wishing to view the documentation can find these documents on their website. Hard copies should be made available by the applicant on request.
Service of documents
There are requirements for documents to be ‘served’ on a person under the Planning Act 2008 by recorded delivery. For example, notice served under section 134 of the Planning Act 2008 must be served to relevant owners, occupiers and lessees of land and requires either personal delivery of that notice, leaving it at their proper address, or post by recorded delivery. Due to the current coronavirus situation, the Royal Mail have indicated that they are not at present capturing customer signatures but will instead log the name of the person accepting items sent by recorded delivery. This is considered to meet the service requirement.
Newspaper notices
Requirements exist under the Planning Act 2008 to place notices in local newspapers. In circumstances where local newspapers are currently not available in a print format, this requirement can be met by placing adverts in appropriate online local newspaper publications.
Footnote
(1) These regulations make permanent the temporary changes to certain publicity requirements for nationally significant infrastructure projects introduced through the Infrastructure Planning (Publication and Notification of Applications etc.) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, which came into force in July 2020. ↩
Last updated 31 December 2020 + show all updates
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Amended to reflect the Infrastructure Planning (Publication and Notification of Applications etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 coming into force on 31 December 2020.
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First published.