17.—(1) An applicant for consent may ask the Department to reconsider its decision where the Department has—
(a)refused the application;
(b)granted consent subject to conditions in addition to those required by regulation 18; or
(c)granted consent subject only to the conditions required by regulation 18 but specified a period for the purposes of one or both of those conditions less than the maximum period permitted by that regulation.
(2) A request to reconsider a decision under paragraph (1) shall be made within 28 days, or such longer period as the Department may within that period of 28 days, allow, beginning with the date on which the applicant receives notification of the Department’s decision under regulation 16.
(3) Any request made to the Department shall be made by notice in writing and may be accompanied or followed by, or by copies of—
(a)the application to which it relates and any documents provided by the applicant to the Department in relation to it;
(b)the decision of the Department; and
(c)any other information or representations which the applicant wishes to provide or make.
(4) Upon receipt of a request under paragraph (1) to reconsider any decision, the Department shall within 28 days beginning with the date of that request or of the receipt of any representations or information supplied in accordance with paragraph (3) reconsider its decision.
(5) In reconsidering its decision, the Department shall take into consideration the environmental information, any representations received by it in relation to the reconsideration and any other material consideration, including in particular its assessment of the direct and indirect effects of the relevant project on the environmental factors specified in Schedule 4.
(6) After reconsidering its decision in pursuance of paragraph (4), the Department shall—
(a)give notice of its decision stating that it has taken into consideration the environmental information relating to the application to which the reconsideration relates and giving the reasons and considerations on which the decision was based to—
(i)the applicant;
(ii)any person from whom the Department received representations in relation to the application; and
(b)publish a notice of its decision in the newspapers in which the decision of the Department to which the reconsideration relates was published in accordance with regulation 16(b) giving details of the place and times at which the public may inspect a statement of—
(i)the content of the decision and any conditions attached thereto;
(ii)the main reasons and considerations on which the decision is based; and
(iii)a description, where necessary, of the main measures to avoid, reduce and, if possible, offset the major adverse effects of the project.