Clause 40
Planning Bill
9:15 am
John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)
Clearly, consultees need sufficient time to respond to a promoter’s consultation, but it is equally important that there should be an expectation and requirement that they give the advice or information that a promoter needs to develop their proposals in a timely manner. It could be that someone preparing an application would be dependent upon a statutory consultee, such as a local authority, for specific information, so the principle of having a specific time period to help concentrate the mind and ensure that happens is important. For those who commented on the White Paper, the belief that a time limit was important was almost universal.
For promoters and many statutory consultees, the formal pre-application consultation is unlikely to be either the start or end of involvement in the process. In most cases, the promoter is likely to have been in touch to consult them beforehand and will continue to do so during the process. After the pre-application consultation period, any statutory consultee is likely to continue to be involved in the process of considering an application.
To be clear, the 28 day period is the statutory minimum, and I think that the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy understands that point well. It is obvious to all members of the Committee that big infrastructure projects will be more complex than other projects, and there may be a strong case in such circumstances for a longer pre-application consultation period. In such cases, the promoter may decide that it is appropriate and in their interests as well.
Of course, the commission has the power to give guidance about how to comply with the consultation, and may decide in specific circumstances to advise a longer consultation period if it believes that would be helpful. Obviously, a promoter would want to take that into account, not least because the commission will decide whether an application is fit for consideration, so any advice the commission may give will be telling at that point.