80 local impact reports submitted by councils

This entry examines the 'Local Impact Report', a key document that forms part of the Planning Act 2008 regime.

Background

A Local Impact Report (LIR) is a document that local authorities affected by nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) are entitled to produce and submit to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). Along with National Policy Statements, LIRs are the only documents that must be specifically taken into account when a decision is made on an NSIP application, so they have a special importance.

When is an LIR produced? The deadline for doing so is up to the inspector(s) examining each application, but is usually set at around four weeks after the preliminary meeting for the application in question, so about four months after the application documents are published.

What should an LIR contain? (Is it pronounced 'lyre', or is that too close to 'liar'? 'lur'? 'leer'?) The very first PINS advice note on the Planning Act regime suggests that they are not a duplicate Environmental Statement, but that they contain information about local plan policies, other developments in the area, local characteristics, the impact of particular articles of the project's Development Consent Order (DCO) and the impact of 'development consent obligations' (i.e. section 106 matters).

It suggests that LIRs state positive, neutral and negative impacts, but don't need to weigh these up.

I agree that they shouldn't be a duplicate environmental statement but they could include a critique of the applicant's environmental statement, and I don't see why they shouldn't contain a conclusion as to whether the local authority considers that the project's benefits outweigh its adverse impacts.

LIRs to date

Below is a table of the 80 LIRs that have been produced to date, by 78 different councils (some are produced jointly, and some councils have produced more than one for different projects). That's about one in five councils.

North Lincolnshire Council and Lancashire County Council have produced the most - four each - with Suffolk and Central Bedfordshire close behind on three.

The single LIR produced by the most joint councils is for the Walney wind farm, with five councils and a national park authority. The project with the most LIRs is (of course) the Thames Tideway Tunnel, with 14. The Burbo Bank wind farm is the only project that has got to the LIR deadline without any being submitted.

Interestingly, the Brig y Cwm project has been 'archived' but the links to the LIRs, which I had saved in an earlier blog post, still work. Just as well, I wouldn't want such precedents to be lost once a project had finished.

The content of LIRs varies quite a lot, and it would be a good idea for expertise and best practice to be developed and shared going forwards. I hope this table is a start.