The government has published guidance about national infrastructure planning which members of the public may also find helpful. See the National Infrastructure Planning Guidance Portal. 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.

What is a relevant representation?

A relevant representation is a person’s or organisation’s detailed comments about the NSIP application. The relevant representation should include full details of the issues that the person or organisation want to be considered, including evidence where necessary. This means that the relevant representation should not just say ‘we support’ or ‘we object’ to the project, and should not just be an outline of the issues.

You can read more about relevant representations and why they are important in paragraph 004 of the government’s guidance on the Pre-application stage.

The comments must be submitted on a registration form and the form must be received by the deadline.

Registering to have your say and making a relevant representation

Members of the public will need to fill out a registration form and make a relevant representation during the relevant representation period if they want to be an interested party and:

• have the right to send further comments and written evidence during the examination stage of the process
• have the right to request to speak at the preliminary meeting during the pre-examination stage or hearings at the examination stage, and request to attend any accompanied site inspections
• hear about events and decisions made during the process
• hear about the progress of the application

The ‘Register to have your say’ form will be available on the project information page of the Find a National Infrastructure Project website site when the applicant notifies everyone that the application has been accepted. The registration form will be available throughout the relevant representation period. 

See the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice for members of the public – The stages of the Nationally Significant Project process and how you can have your say for further information about the relevant representation period.

The online form guides people through the process step by step. It will ask questions which must be answered before moving on to the next step.

Anyone who is not able to complete the registration form on the website can request a paper copy of it from the Planning Inspectorate’s case team. The paper form must be fully completed and be received by the Planning Inspectorate before the deadline. The deadline cannot be extended.

Who can register

Anyone can register to have their say, including:

• members of the public from the local area or anywhere in the UK
• members of the public from other countries
• action groups on behalf of individuals who have similar views
• charities and businesses
• anyone with an interest in the land that could be affected by the project
• local authorities
• statutory parties such as the Environment Agency, Natural England and parish councils

What you will need to register

To register, you will need to give your:

• full name
• address, email and telephone number
• comments about the application. This is your relevant representation. Your comments should include full details of the issues that you want to be considered. See the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice for members of the public – Guidance for submitting representations or comments for important information about what you should and should not include in your comment.

You should be aware of the following points:

• It is not possible to register anonymously
• If you want to have your say and get involved on more than one project you must complete a separate registration form for each project

• If you need to include supporting evidence which you are not able to include in the relevant representation form this can be emailed to the case team using the relevant project email address after you have submitted the registration form. The supporting evidence must be received by the deadline for receipt of a relevant representation. You will need to include the following in your email so that your evidence can be attached to your relevant representation:

  • a. your full name 

  • b. your registration reference number 

  • c. the date you submitted your registration form

• If someone registers on behalf of a family group (such as The Smith Family or Mr and Mrs Jones) or an organisation that they do not work for (such as a residents action group), all members of the family group or the organisation, must agree the content of the relevant representation. A list of the names of the family group or organisation should be provided, however please note that signatures and addresses should not be included.
• If someone registers on behalf of another person, a family group or an organisation they do not work for, and they are an agent (such as Jane Taylor of The Planning Agents on behalf of Wilson Farms) then the person, family group or organisation they are representing will be the interested party and have the right to take part in the process. However, it is expected that the agent will represent them throughout the process.
• Anyone who correctly registers to have their say will be an interested party and will receive an email (or letter if they cannot be contacted by email) every time there is an update or decision made about the application. See What happens after you register for further information about where correspondence is sent.
• If you are under 18 you can still register to have your say and make a relevant representation, however when your comment is published on the website it will be shown as from an allocated code number and not your name. This is to comply with data protection regulations.

What happens after you register

All relevant representations will be published on the project information page of the Find a National Infrastructure Project website as soon as practicable after the relevant representation period has ended. Anyone who completes a registration form correctly and makes a relevant representation by the deadline will become an interested party and will be informed about any decisions made by the Examining Authority. Correspondence (email or letters) will be sent to the address provided by the person or organisation who has registered.

See the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice for members of the public – Guidance for submitting representations or comments  for information about withdrawing a relevant representation.

Keeping everyone informed and your interested party reference number

The Planning Inspectorate will send correspondence by email if it has been given an email address, or a letter in the post, that will tell interested parties where they can see notifications and decisions made by the Examining authority. The email will be from:
ni.mail.distribution@notifications.service.gov.uk.

The email or letter will include an interested party reference number. The following people or organisations will have their own unique interested party reference number:

• Members of the public who have correctly submitted a registration form and made a relevant representation (interested parties)
• All those with an interest in the land affected by the proposed development (affected persons and category 3 persons). If these people and organisations have also correctly submitted a registration form, they will have 2 interested party reference numbers and can use either one when they contact the Planning Inspectorate
• Local authorities
• Statutory parties

It is very important that anyone who receives the email or letter makes a note of their interested party reference number and includes it any time they contact the Planning Inspectorate.

Anyone who is not sure what their interested party reference number is should contact the Planning Inspectorate’s case team.

If you have also signed up to ‘Get updates’ about a project on the Find a National Infrastructure Project website you will receive an email each time the project information page of the website is updated. Signing up to get updates does not mean you have registered to have your say and does not mean you are an interested party.

Using the Find a National Infrastructure Project website to have your say after the relevant representation period

Interested parties should send any further comments through the ‘Have your say’ form. This will be available on the project information page of the website at the appropriate time. The form will be available to send comments which are relevant to the deadlines in the examination timetable. This is the easiest and most efficient way to make sure the comments are seen and considered by the Examining Authority.

The examination timetable has deadlines for when the Examining Authority expects to receive certain types of information or comments. It is important that interested parties sending information or comments:

• sends it before the deadline
• only send the information that has been asked for at each deadline. If a new issue has arisen that the Examining Authority may not be aware of the comment should make this clear
• uses the ‘Have your say’ form

If information or comments are submitted late, or the material is not relevant to what has been asked for, the Examining Authority may not accept them.

What you will need to make further comments

The online form guides people through the process step by step. It will ask questions which must be answered before moving on to the next step.

You will need to give your:

• interested party reference number
• full name
• address, email and telephone number
• the comments or the information that the Examining Authority has asked for, or any new information, including any supporting documents.

If anyone has any questions about using the website they should contact the Planning Inspectorate’s case team. The case team will discuss the most appropriate method for submitting comments. This may be by email or by sending a paper copy in the post.