Thursday 14 May 2015
The Planning Inspectors are delighted to see that so many Islanders have chosen to make an Initial Representation on the proposals and policies in the Draft Island Development Plan and they are now currently reviewing each of the submissions.
Owing to the significant public participation in this consultation, the Planning Inspectors have agreed to a request from the Environment Department for further time to prepare their written responses to each of the 1,516 Initial Representations submitted on the Draft Island Development Plan[1].
The Planning Inspectors recognise that the original timetable, based on commencing Further Representations on Monday 18th May 2015, was ambitious. They have therefore agreed to a request to delay the opening of the Further Representations stage, as they are mindful that, of the 1,516 Initial Representations received, over 600 were submitted on the closing day and all but 143 were received during April. This has resulted in a great deal of work for both the Environment Department in preparing responses to the representations and for the Policy Council's planning inquiry team in preparing for the Further Representations stage.
The Further Representations stage will now commence on Monday 15th June 2015 and will close on Friday 24th July 2015. The revised timetable for the Planning Inquiry is set out below.
In reaching this decision the Planning inspectors have concluded that this change of date should not have an impact on the dates scheduled for the public hearings in October and November 2015, and therefore does not impact on the overall timetable for the Planning Inquiry.
Action | Key Date |
Opening of Further Representations | Monday 15th June 2015
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Close of Further Representations | Friday 24th July 2015 (i.e. 6 weeks later) |
Review of Further Representations by the Planning Inspectors and preparation of responses to Further Representations by the Environment Department | 24th July 2015 to late August 2015 (this work will be ongoing from the opening of Further Representations; however, if most Further Representations are received in the final few days and in similar numbers to the numbers of Initial Representations, further time may be needed to allow the Planning Inspectors to review all the representations and the Environment Department to prepare the responses as required under the planning legislation) |
Preliminary Meeting | Wednesday 16th September 2015 (this is a statutory requirement; at the meeting the Planning Inspectors will set out how they will handle the inquiry Hearings and how they will take evidence and the order in which they will deal with issues raised in the representations) |
Opening of Planning Inquiry Hearings | Monday 5th October 2015 (it is anticipated that the two Inspectors will sit alone for most of the hearings; however, only one session will run at a time and the other Inspector will undertake his site visits and prepare for his next hearings whilst his colleague is sitting; the first hearing days will deal with the principles and primary polices of the draft IDP and it is probable that both Inspectors will sit together for these hearings) |
Close of Planning Inquiry Hearings | Friday 27th November 2015 (the number of hearing days will depend on the number of representations received and how many people wish to participate at the Hearings; in preparing the draft timetable, allowance has been made for two hearing sessions each lasting three weeks and with a break of one week between the two sessions) |
Submission of Planning Inspectors' Report to the Environment Department | Anticipated c. February 2016 (subject to the number and complexity of issues raised during the public consultation; the time allowed for drafting the Report is based on the Planning Inspectorate guidance of allowing two weeks' drafting time per one week hearing time) |
[1] The Environment Department is required to provide a written response to each Initial Representation and the Planning Inspectors must provide these to the representors and make them publicly available before Further Representations are invited.
