Purpose

To seek the
agreement of the Cabinet Member - Infrastructure and Environment
for the submission of a response on behalf of the County Council to
the Stage 1 consultation by the National Grid on the Chesterfield
to Willington Electricity Line Project.
 

Decision

That the Cabinet Member approves
for the submission of a response on behalf of the Council to the
Stage 1 consultation by the National Grid on the Chesterfield to
Willington Electricity Line Project.

Reasons for the decision

To ensure the County Council sets
out its concerns and issues for more detailed discussion with
National Grid as the proposals are developed further through the
statutory planning process.

Alternative options considered

Option 1: Do not respond to the
Stage 1 consultation. Although the Council has been identified as
an important statutory consultee on the project as host authority,
it does not have any legal obligations under the Planning Act 2008
to respond to the consultation. However, this is a major
infrastructure project that raises wide ranging impacts for
communities in a large part of the County on both the natural and
built environment. Failure to respond to the consultation could
result in important issues and concerns raised by the scheme not
being identified for further consideration and assessment by the
applicant through the DCO process.

 

Option 2: Respond to the Stage 1
consultation. Responding to the consultation will give the Council
the opportunity to set out at a very early stage in the
consultation process, the Council’s main concerns and issues
it has with the scheme and the need for the mitigation of these
potential impacts on the natural and built environment. Setting out
these issues and concerns now will put the Council in a better
position to seek to negotiate with the NG on how the scheme can be
re-routed and/or re-aligned to avoid the most sensitive of the
built and natural environment in the County.