12.—(1) An application for consent must include an environmental statement and must be made to the Department.
(2) The applicant for consent must provide the Department with as many copies of the application as it reasonably requires.
(3) After receiving the application for consent, the Department shall comply with paragraphs (4) and (5).
(4) The Department shall—
(a)send a copy of the application to such of the consultation bodies it considers appropriate; and
(b)inform them that they may make representations within 28 days of the date they received the copy of the application.
(5) In order to ensure that members of the public concerned are given an opportunity to make representations before the application is determined, the Department must publish, on its website and in a newspaper circulating in the locality of the relevant land, a notice—
(a)stating that the application has been made;
(b)specifying an address—
(i)at which copies of the application can be inspected free of charge, and
(ii)where copies of the application may be taken
at all reasonable hours, within 35 days of the date the notice is published;
(c)stating that representations on the likely environmental effects of the project may be made in writing to the Department at the address specified under sub-paragraph (b) within 35 days of the date the notice is published;
(d)stating that, if consent is granted, it will be subject to—
(i)the conditions in regulation 18(2), and
(ii)any other conditions that the Department thinks fit.
(6) The Department may make a reasonable charge for copies referred to in paragraph (5)(b)(ii).