Millbrook Power Ltd (MPL, a subsidiary business of Drax Group) has today submitted its application for a Development Consent Order to the Planning Inspectorate. Upon receipt of MPL’s application, the Planning Inspectorate has 28 days to decide whether to accept it for examination.
If the application is accepted for examination, MPL will formally notify Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council, the local parish councils in the near vicinity of the site at Rookery South Pit, local landowners and other statutory consultees. These stakeholders will receive a copy of the accepted application documents.
In addition, a notice will be published at or near the site and in local newspapers to publicise the accepted application and to provide information to local people on where they can review the application and how and when they can make representations to the Planning Inspectorate. Anyone who makes a representation can register to become an Interested Party once the Examination process starts.
Assuming the MPL application is accepted, we could expect the Examination process to start in February/March of next year (2018).
A ‘preliminary meeting’ with Interested Parties, MPL and the Examining Authority will be held to coincide with the start of the Examination process. This meeting will be held locally and interested parties will be given at least 21 days’ notice of the meeting. At this meeting, the Examining Authority will inform MPL and Interested Parties of the examination procedure and schedule.
The post-application and examination processes, including the formal notification of the accepted application and the consultation on the Application documents (undertaken in accordance with Section 56 of the Planning Act 2008), are defined by relevant regulations and the Planning Inspectorate.
