Planning Inspectorate
The government has published guidance about national infrastructure planning which applicants, members of the public and other parties should read. See the National Infrastructure Planning Guidance Portal. The guidance should be read alongside the Planning Act 2008 (the Planning Act).
This advice is non-statutory. However, the Planning Inspectorates advice about running the infrastructure planning system and matters of process is drawn from good practice and applicants and others should follow our recommendations. It is intended to complement the legislation, regulations and guidance issued by government and is produced under section 51 of the Planning Act.
An application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) must include a consultation report which describes the consultation process carried out by the applicant before the NSIP application is submitted, including how they have taken feedback into account. See section 37(3)(c) of the Planning Act.
The applicant should refer to:
- the governments guidance on the Pre-application stage
- the Planning Inspectorates Pre-application Prospectus
Purpose of the consultation report
The Planning Inspectorate will review the consultation report during the acceptance stage of the process to decide if:
- the applicant has complied with the pre-application consultation requirements
- ultimately, the application is of a satisfactory standard to be accepted for examination
The applicant should regard the consultation report as an important part of the evidence base that supports their application. The consultation report may also be referred to by the Examining Authority during the examination of the application and by the Secretary of State when making their decision.
The consultation report must explain how the applicant has complied with the statutory pre-application consultation requirements set down in the Planning Act, specifically the requirements to:
- consult with prescribed consultees (section 42)
- consult with the community (section 47)
- publicise the proposed application (section 48)
- have regard to consultation responses (section 49)
- have regard to the governments guidance on the Pre-application stage (section 50)
The report should also explain any non-statutory pre-application consultation that has been undertaken by the applicant.
The consultation report should include an explanation of how the applicant has had regard to the Planning Inspectorates pre-application advice and the advice provided by other statutory consultees and local authorities.
The applicant should be aware that there are additional consultation requirements associated with applications seeking entry to a Fast Track procedure. These requirements are set out in the governments guidance on the Fast-track process and the Planning Inspectorates Pre-application Prospectus.
Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations consultation
Consultation undertaken as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process under The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 is separate to that required under the Planning Act. For example, statutory consultation on a scoping report following a scoping request to the Secretary of State is consultation under the EIA regulations. The applicant may wish to draw attention to consultation responses received under the EIA process, but any reference to the EIA consultation should be addressed separately from the non-statutory and statutory consultation carried out under the Planning Act.
For further information on the consultation requirements for EIA see the Planning Inspectorates Advice on Environmental Impact Assessment Notification and Consultation.
Format and content of the consultation report
There is no standard format for a consultation report. This advice provides some good practice guidelines about the structure of a consultation report.
The main aim of the consultation report is to provide clarity on what consultation has been done and how the applicant has taken feedback into account. The Planning Inspectorate should be able to understand how the consultation was undertaken and how the issues raised have been addressed or responded to. The report does not need to include an excessively detailed description of every element of the consultation programme. See paragraph 026 of the governments guidance on the Pre-application stage for further information.
Introductory text
Introductory text should provide an overview including:
- a summary of the consultation activities undertaken
- a table or timeline summarising both statutory and non-statutory consultation in chronological order
This section should explain the relationship between any initial strategic options stages of the project, any subsequent non-statutory consultation that may have taken place, and the statutory consultation carried out.
Many NSIPs evolve over an extended period with previous proposals, or elements of proposals, that may have been consulted on then abandoned. Where this is the case a brief description of any historic consultation activity, including any information available about the general content of the consultation and the number of responses at that time, can be helpful. However, a detailed planning history of the site is not necessary.
Multi-stage consultations
It is helpful if each stage of non-statutory and statutory consultation is presented and explained chronologically in separate chapters or sections of the report. This can also include separate summary schedules of consultation responses for each round of consultation, which could be included as an appendix to the report.
Statutory consultation
This is the consultation required by the Planning Act.
Duty to notify the Secretary of State (section 46)
The report should include details of when the applicant notified the Planning Inspectorate of their intention to submit a NSIP application and carry out statutory consultation. As required by section 46 of the Planning Act the applicant must notify the Planning Inspectorate before commencing consultation under section 42. The report should confirm when the full suite of consultation documents was provided to the Planning Inspectorate and include a list of those documents.
Duty to consult (section 42)
The report should include a list of all persons and consultation bodies that were consulted. The applicant should provide a sample of the letter sent to each type of consultee which includes the date it was sent, and the deadline given for responses. These can be included as an appendix. The applicant should list the consultees in the order suggested below. For each type of consultee, the applicant should include the dates they were consulted.
Prescribed consultees (section 42(1)(a), (aa) and (c))
The list of the prescribed consultees should follow the order they are presented in Schedule 1 of The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 (the APFP Regulations 2009). Any variations between the applicants list of prescribed consultees and the list set out in Schedule 1 of the APFP Regulations 2009 should be justified. Where relevant, the list of prescribed consultees should also include the Marine Management Organisation (section 42(1)(aa)) and the Greater London Authority (section 42(1)(c)).
The Infrastructure Planning (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2024 introduced t