The M54 to M6 Link Road Development Consent Order 2022

PART 2 PROCEDURE FOR DISCHARGE OF REQUIREMENTS

Applications made under requirements

14.—(1) Where an application has been made to the Secretary of State for any consent, agreement or approval required by a requirement (including consent, agreement or approval in respect of part of a requirement) included in this Order the Secretary of State must give notice to the undertaker of the 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 15 (further information); or

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

(2) Subject to sub-paragraphs (3) and (4), 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 the Secretary of State requests further information pursuant to paragraph 15, and no further information has been submitted eight weeks from that day immediately following that on which the application was received by the Secretary of State, the application or (if applicable) the part of the application to which the request for further information relates is taken to have been refused by the Secretary of State.

(4) 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;

(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 report from a body required to be consulted by the undertaker under the requirement that considers it likely that the subject matter of the application would give rise to any materially new or materially different environmental effects in comparison with those reported in the environmental statement,

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

Further information

15.—(1) In relation to any part of an application made under this Schedule, the Secretary of State has the right to 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 that 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 a separate application from the remainder of the application for the purposes of calculating the time periods referred to in paragraph 14 (applications made under requirements) and in this paragraph.

(4) In this paragraph, “business day” means a day other than Saturday, Sunday or bank or public holiday.

Anticipatory steps towards compliance with any requirement

16.  If before the coming into force of this Order the undertaker or any other person has taken any steps that were intended to be steps towards compliance with any provision of Part I of this Schedule, those steps may be taken into account for the purpose of determining compliance with that provisions if they would have been valid steps for that purpose had they been taken after this Order came into force.