Issue - meetings

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment in consultation with the Head of Planning and Building Control and Cabinet member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy to submit to the Planning Inspectorate all  ...  view the full agenda text for item 63

Consideration was given to the report which sought approval to delegate the preparation and submission of documents to the Planning Inspectorate, both in relation to the Whitestone Solar Farm project and any future applications that fell under the legislation for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP), to the Strategic Director of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1.     Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment in consultation with the Head of Planning and Building Control andCabinet member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy to submit to the Planning Inspectorate all documentation and relevant evidence for their consideration and deal with all procedural matters that may arise in relation to this application and any future applications that fall under the legislation for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

2.    Agree to the proposal that a report be submitted to the Planning Board on a quarterly basis to provide a summary of all responses submitted from the Council to the Planning Inspectorate in respect of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects in the previous quarter.

The Chair began by clarifying that the item was for information only. The Whitestone proposal was a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), which meant the decision would be made by the Secretary of State, not the Council. It was clarified that Rotherham Council had no power to approve or reject the application. The Council’s role was to provide factual information to the Planning Inspectorate, including a Local Impact Report. The Council could not make a recommendation either way.

The Chair went on to explain that if Members or members of the public wished to raise objections or concerns at this stage of the process, they must be submitted directly to the applicant and in the event a development consent order (DCO) was accepted, thereafter to the Planning Inspectorate. Local MPs, parish councils, and community groups could also make representations.

The Chair clarified that this was to give members and residents an understanding the process and the Council’s limited role within it.

The Chair then invited Councillor John Williams, Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy to introduce the report. In terms of outline and background, NSIP proposals were those planning applications or projects that the government deemed of such national significance and importance that the responsibility for granting planning permission rested with the government, through the Planning Inspectorate. The Council was not a decision-maker on those proposals.

Rotherham was facing its first NSIP: the proposed Whitestone solar farm, which also extended into Doncaster. This had prompted a review of the constitution, where it identified a gap in how the Council handled its statutory consultee role in the NSIP processes. The cabinet report aimed to establish internal procedures for responding to NSIP applications.

The Cabinet report proposed delegating the preparation and submission of responses to the Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Head of Planning and Building Control and the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs, and the Local Economy.

This approach addressed two key issues:

1. Tight timescales – typically 28 days to respond, which made routing through Cabinet or Planning Board impractical.
2. Technical nature – responses were technical, not decisions requiring a vote.

While Whitestone was the immediate context, the report itself made no judgment on its merits. It focused on ensuring the Council had a clear process for handling any future NSIP proposals.

Simon Moss, Assistant Director, Planning, Regeneration and Transport stated that NSIP projects were of such national importance and scale that decisions were made by the Secretary of State, not the Council, and were handled through the Planning Inspectorate via a DCO.

It was noted that the process could take up to two years, which was much longer than typical planning applications and involved several stages, as outlined in the report. NSIPs frontloaded the planning process, placing greater emphasis on shaping the proposals before formal examination.

Assistant Director, Planning, Regeneration and Transport clarified that as the host authority, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) was a statutory consultee and was consulted at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47