Scoping directions
33.—(1) A person who is minded to make an application for planning permission may ask the Welsh Ministers to make a scoping direction.
(2) A request under paragraph (1) must include—
(a)a plan sufficient to identify the land;
(b)a brief description of the nature and purpose of the development including its location and technical capacity;
(c)its likely significant effects on the environment;
(d)a statement that the request is made in relation to a development of national significance for the purposes of section 62D of the 1990 Act; and
(e)such other information or representations as the person making the request may wish to provide or make.
(3) A person making a request pursuant to paragraph (1) must send to the relevant planning authority a copy of that request and the documents which accompany that request.
(4) If the Welsh Ministers consider that the information provided pursuant to paragraph (1) is insufficient to make a scoping direction, the Welsh Ministers must give notice to the person making the request.
(5) The notice must set out any points on which additional information is required.
(6) The Welsh Ministers may also request the relevant planning authority to provide such information as they can on any of those points.
(7) The Welsh Ministers must—
(a)consult the consultees before making a scoping direction in response to a request under paragraph (1), and
(b)make a direction and send a copy to the person who made the request and to the relevant planning authority, within 8 weeks beginning with the date of receipt of that request or such longer period as may be reasonably required.
(8) Before making a scoping direction the Welsh Ministers must take into account—
(a)any information provided by the applicant about the proposed development;
(b)the specific characteristics of the particular development;
(c)the specific characteristics of development of the type concerned; and
(d)the environmental features likely to be significantly affected by the development.
(9) Nothing prevents the Welsh Ministers, (after they have made a scoping direction) from requiring the person who made the request to provide additional information about the likely significant effects of the proposed development.
(10) “Additional information” (“gwybodaeth ychwanegol”) in paragraph (9) means information in connection with any statement that may be submitted by that person as an environmental statement for the purposes of these Regulations.