8.—(1) Where environmental information is required under these Regulations by the Commissioners or by direction of the Minister the applicant shall—
(a)by advertisement in at least two local newspapers nominated by the Commissioners give notice of the afforestation project, notifying members of the public that any person wishing to make representations regarding the project should make them in writing to the Commissioners at the address specified in the advertisement within a specified period being not less than 28 days from the date of the advertisement;
(b)make available for inspection by members of the public at all reasonable times at an office of the Commissioners or at some other convenient place nominated by them (such times and place to be stated in the advertisement referred to in subparagraph (a) above), for a period of at least 21 days following the publication of the advertisement, the details of the project and of the environmental statement relating to it, and shall ensure that a reasonable number of copies of the statement are made available;
(c)state in the advertisement referred to in subparagraph (a) above the address at which copies of the environmental statement may be obtained and, if a charge is to be made for a copy, the amount of the charge.
(2) Where the Commissioners receive an environmental statement relating to an application to which regulation 3 applies they shall consult—
(a)the Nature Conservancy Council;
(b)the Countryside Commission or the Countryside Commission for Scotland, as appropriate; and
(c)any local authority, any other public authority and any statutory body which appears to them to have an interest in the afforestation project in question.
(3) Where under this regulation the Commissioners consult any authority or body about any environmental statement they shall give not less than 4 weeks' notice to such authority or body that such statement is to be taken into consideration, shall not consider the statement until after the expiration of the period of such notice, and shall, in considering the statement, take into account any representations received from such authority or body.
(4) The Commissioners shall consider the application and the environmental statement and any representations and comments made thereon by any person, body or authority, and shall communicate their decision as to whether or not to make a grant or loan for the project in writing to such person, body or authority and by means of public advertisements in the newspapers which they nominated for the purposes of the advertisements referred to in paragraph (1) above.
(5) Where an applicant for a grant or loan submits an environmental statement to the Commissioners he shall provide them with a sufficient number of copies of the statement or parts thereof to enable them to comply with paragraph (2) above plus one extra copy.