The government has published guidance about national infrastructure planning which members of the public may also find helpful. See National infrastructure planning guidance. The guidance should be read alongside the Planning Act 2008 (the Planning Act).

This advice is non-statutory. However, the Planning Inspectorate’s 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.

Guidance on submitting representations or comments

Do:

• Read this guidance before making a representation or comment
• Comment in good time. You must make sure your comments are submitted before the relevant deadline
• Be honest and considered in your comments, remembering they will be publicly available. See Redaction – Important information about submitting comments and documents to the Planning Inspectorate
• Make sure your comments explain your views clearly, organising them in a logical order and keeping to the point. It is helpful to use numbered paragraphs.

• Clearly explain the reasons for your views and avoid repeating the same point. Where necessary include supporting evidence, such as:

  a. extracts from documents. See the information about hyperlinks in the ‘Do not’ guidance below

  b. maps, plans, drawings or charts

  c. photographs of the local area or landmarks but remember that these must not identify individuals, for example by showing faces or vehicle number plates

• Your comments can be in favour of (support) or be against (object to) the project or a mixture of both. For example, you may support the design of the project but object to the location. If you have concerns these should focus on the advantages and / or disadvantages (merits) of the project such as:

  a. how it will affect the surrounding area

  b. highway safety

  c. the design of the project (what it will look like)

  d. whether the project will affect the enjoyment of your own property in any way (such as the garden)

  e. the impacts the project may have on your day-to-day life. See the information about personal and medical information in the ‘Do not’ guidance below.

• Think carefully about sending a video submission, including drone footage. Before sending video evidence you must send a completed video submission proforma ( Annex A to this advice (MS Word Document, 78.4 KB)) to the Planning Inspectorate’s case team at least 5 working days before you want to send the video. The form will include information about the format and size of a video submission that can be accepted. To be acceptable a video submission must:

  a. be accessible to others

  b. not contain personal information from anyone who has not consented

  c. not be misleading in terms of imagery and audio content

  d. not contain defamatory images or remarks

  e. not be capable of being easily manipulated or changed once it has been submitted

  f. be necessary and proportionate and not capable of being provided in any other way

  g. be in MP4 format

• Understand the Data Protection and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) implications of how your data and comments will be used. See the Planning Inspectorate’s Privacy Notice
• If you are referring to specific comments, documents or evidence in a written representation during the pre-examination or examination stage quote the examination library reference

Do not:

• Include any personal names (use words such as ‘family member’ or ‘neighbour’ instead), or any personal financial information such as copies of bank statements
• Include any personal information such as “I live on my own” or “I will be on holiday in July”
• Include any signatures
• Include any information relating to medical data for yourself or others, use more general terms such as “the project may affect people with [medical condition – physical or mental]” and not for example “I have epilepsy and suffer from anxiety” or “This will affect my child’s asthma”. Do not include lifestyle details which reveal a health aspect such as “Needs a carer” or “Has to take medication”
• Include any material which is defamatory (slanderous or libellous) of any person or which is threatening, offensive, abusive, hateful or inflammatory or any material which invades another persons’ privacy
• Include any material that would identify vulnerable persons, including children or young adults, such as the names of schools or colleges they attend or photographs. You can refer to schools or colleges in the local area generally
• Include hyperlinks to websites, these will be deactivated before they are published so will not be seen by the Examining Authority. You can include hyperlinks to documents on our website, other government websites that have a gov.uk address or other limited professional websites such as the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). You must explain why this has been included in your comment and the date that you accessed it

If you want to include information from another website you can include this as a separate document (annex) with a copy of the information, but you must include details of where the information has come from and the date you accessed the information. You must also be aware of any copyright restrictions. It is better to include just the relevant section of the information (an extract) in your comment rather than include a long document. You should clearly explain the reasons why the information is relevant

• Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age, or any illegal activity or violence
• Make a comment in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence, or infringe any copyright, database right or trademark of any person
• Make a comment which identifies the exact location of a protected species such as badgers, bats, or bird nesting sites
• Make a comment which is likely to deceive any person or be used to impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with anyone or any organisation

The Examining Authority will read and consider all comments received, however repeated identical submissions can be unhelpful and affect the efficiency of the NSIP process. It is helpful if groups of individuals with similar views can form a group and make one submission on behalf of everyone in that group. See the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice for members of the public – How to register to have your say and make a relevant representation for further information.

If anyone is unclear about whether a particular comment is acceptable then they can contact the case team at the Planning Inspectorate for advice.

Redaction - Important information about submitting comments and documents to the Planning Inspectorate

Comments sent to the Planning Inspectorate, after an NSIP application has been accepted, will be published on the project information page of the Find a National Infrastructure Project website.

The name of the person or organisation who has made the comment will be published but, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, the following information will be removed:

• signatures
• addresses
• telephone numbers
• email addresses
• social media handles
• faces and vehicle registration numbers from photographs

The Planning Inspectorate may not remove commercial or business details.

All comments are checked and the version appearing on the website may be redacted (edited to remove sensitive or inappropriate content by replacing the content with [redacted] or with a black patch) to ensure compliance with data protection legislation and for safeguarding purposes. Redaction is carried out without notice to the author of the comment.

A copy of the original, unredacted comment is always kept on file for the Examining Authority. If the Examining Authority considers that the redacted part of the comment is important and relevant the sender may be asked to resend the comment in such a way that it can be published on the website, in full, so that other people are able to read it and comment on it. This is in the interests of openness and fairness.

The Planning Inspectorate has published a Privacy Notice which explains what information is published on the website and how it handles personal data.

The website includes information about the file formats and sizes of documents that can be sent to the Planning Inspectorate.

Withdrawing a representation or comment

Anyone who wishes to withdraw a comment that has already been made must send an email to the Planning Inspectorate’s case team clearly stating which representation or comment, or which part of a representation or comment, is to be withdrawn. It is helpful to quote the examination library reference number.

The request to withdraw a comment will be published on the project information page of the Find a National Infrastructure Project website alongside the original representation or comment which will remain published for public record.

Email updates  

The Find a National Infrastructure Project website provides information about the NSIP process and the individual development projects. Each project has its own information page where anyone can sign up to ‘Get updates’. Email updates will only be sent after the application has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Signing up to get updates does not mean you have registered to have your say and does not mean you are an interested party.