Out-Law News 1 min. read
02 Dec 2011, 4:58 pm
Major infrastructure cases (Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects) under consideration by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will be transferred to the new Major Infrastructure Planning Unit (MIPU) at the Planning Inspectorate in line with the Localism Act.
A Direction is to be issued by the Secretary of State (SOS) in advance of the transfer of powers to explain how the transition will be handled. The Direction will apply to those promoters who have informed the IPC that they intend to submit an application, the Commission said.
The guidance encourages promoters of projects to liaise closely with the IPC, to ensure that any activity carried out in this period is carefully planned, and to enable all necessary matters to be accounted for in the Direction.
"A Direction will not be needed where the [IPC] has issued a screening or scoping opinion, or has authorised entry onto land," the IPC said. "The [IPC] will continue to stand as authority for these matters after the transition."
The Direction will be structured in two parts. The first will make provision for those applications that are the subject of a section 46 notice under the Planning Act 2008, which requires applicants to send copies of all consultation documents to the IPC for the purposes of pre-application consultation.
Once a section 46 notice has been issued, actions completed by a promoter to comply with the Planning Act 2008 will be treated as having been completed under the legislation as amended, according to the Government guidance. In addition, any actions completed in relation to the IPC shall be treated as completed by or in relation to the Secretary of State.
The second part will deal with any provision that needs to be made for individual cases, should specific provision be necessary, to ensure that an application can proceed without a change in persons appointed.
Promoters should continue to comply with the requirements of the Planning Act 2008 until the Localism Act is commenced. When commenced, the SoS will consider applying the Planning Act with modifications “to ensure that promoters have properly complied with any requirements that are subsequently modified by the Localism Act”. This will be done under a power given to the SoS by section 129 of the Planning Act 2008, according to the guidance.
