The M4 Motorway (Junctions 3 to 12) (Smart Motorway) Development Consent Order 2016

PART 2 PROCEDURE FOR DISCHARGE OF REQUIREMENTS

Applications made under requirement

27.—(1) Where an application has been made to the Secretary of State for any consent, agreement or approval required by a requirement (including agreement or approval in respect of part of a requirement) included in the Order, the Secretary of State must give notice to the undertaker of its decision on the application within a period of 8 weeks beginning with—

(a) the day immediately following that on which the application is received by the Secretary of State;

(b) the day immediately following that on which further information has been supplied by the undertaker under paragraph 2; or

(c) such longer period as may be agreed between the parties.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (3), in the event that the Secretary of State does not determine an application within the period set out in sub-paragraph (1), the Secretary of State is taken to have granted all parts of the application (without any condition or qualification) at the end of that period.

(3) Where—

(a) an application has been made to the Secretary of State for any consent, agreement or approval required by a requirement included in this Order; and

(b) the Secretary of State does not determine such application within the period set out in sub-paragraph (1); and

(c) the application is accompanied by a statement that the subject matter of the application is likely to give rise to any materially new or materially worse environmental effects in comparison with those reported in the environmental statement,

then the application is taken to have been refused by the Secretary of State at the end of that period.

(4) With respect to any requirement that requires details to be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval under this Schedule, the details must be accompanied by a statement as to whether the subject matter of the application is likely to give rise to any new or materially worse environmental effects in comparison with those reported in the environmental statement.

Further information

28.—(1) In relation to any part of an application made under this Schedule, the Secretary of State may request such further information from the undertaker as is necessary to enable the Secretary of State to consider the application.

(2) In the event that the Secretary of State considers such further information to be necessary the Secretary of State must, within 21 business days of receipt of the application, notify the undertaker in writing specifying the further information required and (if applicable) to which part of the application it relates. In the event that the Secretary of State does not give such notification within this 21 business-day period the Secretary of State is deemed to have sufficient information to consider the application and is not subsequently entitled to request further information without the prior agreement of the undertaker.

(3) Where further information is requested under this paragraph in relation to part only of an application, that part is treated as separate from the remainder of the application for the purposes of calculating the time periods referred to in paragraph 27 and in this paragraph.

Register of requirements

29.—(1) The undertaker must, as soon as practicable, following the making of this Order, establish and maintain in an electronic form suitable for inspection by members of the public a register of those requirements contained in Part 1 of this Schedule that provide for further approvals to be given by the Secretary of State.

(2) The register must set out in relation to each such requirement the status of the requirement, in terms of whether any approval to be given by the Secretary of State has been applied for or given, providing an electronic link to any document containing any approved details.

(3) The register must be maintained by the undertaker for a period of 3 years following completion of the authorised development.

Details of consultation

30.—(1) With respect to any requirement which requires details to be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval under this Schedule, the details submitted must be accompanied by a summary report setting out the consultation undertaken by the undertaker to inform the details submitted and the undertaker’s response to that consultation.

(2) At the time of submission to the Secretary of State for approval, the undertaker must provide a copy of the summary report referred to under sub-paragraph (1) to the relevant consultees referred to in the requirement in relation to which approval is being sought from the Secretary of State.

(3) The undertaker must ensure that any consultation responses are reflected in the details submitted to the Secretary of State for approval under this Schedule, but only where it is appropriate, reasonable and feasible to do so, taking into account considerations including, but not limited to, cost and engineering practicality.

(4) Where the consultation responses are not reflected in the details submitted to the Secretary of State for approval, the undertaker must state in the summary report referred to under sub-paragraph (1), the reasons why the consultation responses have not been reflected in the submitted details.