The Planning Act 2008 Morpeth Northern Bypass Examining Authority’s Report of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendation to The Secretary of State for Transport _______________________________________ John Watson Examining Authority Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State This page intentionally left blank Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State ERRATA SHEET – MORPETH NORTHERN BYPASS - Ref TR010010 Examining authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, undated but submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport on 14 October 2014 Corrections agreed by the Examining Authority prior to a decision being made Page No. Paragraph Error Correction 19 3.30 Line 8: “newroads” “new roads” 20-21 3.31 Quotation sub-paras “Saved Policy C3 (Areas of High currently shown as (i) Landscape Value): and (ii) are mis- The Council has identified areas formatted and in the of high landscape value and will wrong order. (See not permit development which examination document will have a detrimental effect on APP008.22) such areas. They are defined on the proposals map and insets and are as follows :- i) sections of the Wansbeck Valley and its tributaries within and to the east and west of Morpeth, together with Howburn Wood. ii) …..” 28 4.12 This apparently Replace entire text of paragraph incomplete paragraph with “[not used]” (in order not seems to have been to require renumbering of rest of repeated (and Report and updating of cross- completed) at 4.15 references). 32 4.25 Line 5: “site” “sites” 46 4.83 Line 8: “n” “in” 55 4.121 1st bullet, line 1: “Pennine” “Penine” 72 4.201 Line 8: missing “)” after “How Burn).” “How Burn” 106 7.29 Line 3: “section115” “section 115” This page intentionally left blank Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State MORPETH NORTHERN BYPASS File Ref TR010010 The application, dated 11 July 2013, was made under section 37 of the Planning Act 2008 and was received in full by The Planning Inspectorate on 15 July 2013. The Applicant is Northumberland County Council. The application was accepted for examination on 7 August 2013. The examination of the application began on 15 January 2014 and was completed on 15 July 2014. The development proposed comprises a 3.8km long single carriageway road, extending from Whorral Bank roundabout on the A197, north-east of Morpeth, westward to the A1 trunk road where a grade-separated junction would make a connection. Summary of Recommendation: The Examining Authority recommends that development consent for the Morpeth Northern Bypass should be granted and therefore recommends the Secretary of State (subject to the receipt by the Applicant of the necessary EPS licences) to make an Order under section 114 of the Planning Act 2008 in the form at Appendix D. Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State 1 Section Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 3 2 MAIN FEATURES OF THE SITE AND THE PROPOSAL .......................... 7 3 LEGAL AND POLICY CONTEXT ...................................................... 13 4 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS IN RELATION TO POLICY AND FACTUAL ISSUES ..................................................................................... 23 ISSUES IN THE EXAMINATION ...................................................... 23 5 OVERALL CONCLUSION ON THE CASE FOR DEVELOPMENT CONSENT 90 6 COMPULSORY ACQUISITION ........................................................ 92 7 DRAFT DEVELOPMENT CONSENT ORDER ...................................... 102 8 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................... 107 Appendices Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................... A The Examination and Procedural Decision ............................................ B Document Libraries Examination Library.................................................................... C1 Documents Referred to in the DCO ............................................... C2 Documents Comprising the Environmental Statement ..................... C3 Recommended DCO .......................................................................... D Recommended DCO compared to the Applicant’s final draft DCO ............ E Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State 2 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The A192 and A197 roads cross in Morpeth and the A1 trunk road lies to the west of the town. This application proposes to build the Morpeth Northern Bypass (“the Scheme”), a new road which would follow a route between (i) a new junction with the A1 to the north- west of the town near the A192 and (ii) an existing roundabout junction with the A197 to the north-east of the town. 1.2 The Applicant is Northumberland County Council (NCC). An application for an Order granting development consent for the Scheme was submitted on 15 July 2013 and was accepted for examination on 7 August 2013. I was appointed by the Secretary of State on 9 October 2013 as the Examining Authority to examine and report on the application under section 83(1)(b) of the Planning Act 2008 (“the 2008 Act”). The examination began on 15 January 2014 and was completed on 15 July 2014. 1.3 Documents considered during the examination are listed in Appendix C of this report, and where they are referred to in the text they are cited as Doc … as appropriate. Audio recordings were made at the Preliminary Meeting and the Hearings and where reference is made to them it may be of this form (Doc AUD001 minute20), meaning the “target” is to be heard during the 20th minute of the recording. 1.4 The development proposed is the construction of a highway wholly in England and for a purpose connected with a highway for which the Secretary of State is the highway authority. At the time the application was received by the Planning Inspectorate it met the criteria set out in s22 of the 2008 Act. It is a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) as defined by s14(1)(h) of the 2008 Act. 1.5 To the extent that the proposed development is or forms part of an NSIP, development consent is required before the development can proceed (s31 of the 2008 Act). Development consent can be granted only by the Secretary of State and this report provides the Secretary of State for Transport with my findings and conclusions on the application for development consent for the Morpeth Northern Bypass. This report also contains my recommendation on whether to grant consent for the powers sought for the compulsory acquisition of land and rights, and on the terms of the Development Consent Order (DCO or Order) should the Secretary of State be minded to make such an Order. 1.6 The application is for EIA development as defined by the Regulations1. It was accompanied by an environmental statement (ES) which in my view meets the definition given in Regulation 2(1). Supplementary environmental information was supplied 1 Regulation 2(1) and sub paragraph 10(f) of Schedule 2 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations as amended Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State 3 during the course of the examination. In reaching my recommendation, I have taken all the environmental information into consideration. 1.7 The ES was submitted in hard copy and electronically. The electronic copy consists of over 50 separate component files, some of which contain multiple documents. Modified documents were issued during the Examination, and some were accepted (Doc COR021; see also paragraphs 2.24 to 2.26 of this report). Appendix C1 lists all the Examination documents. Appendix C2 contains a list of the plans and documents that are directly referenced in the recommended DCO, as they were at the end of the examination. Appendix C3 contains a list of the documents that together make up the ES as it was at the end of the examination. Appendices C2 and C3 are intended to assist the Secretary of State in considering the application, and are not definitive lists of certified documents. Where I find a need for a reference to the ES in this report, it is given to the individual document containing the relevant material. The Examination 1.8 A preliminary meeting (PM) was held on 15 January 2014 at which the Applicant and all other interested parties (IPs) were able to make representations to me about how the application should be examined. My procedural decision was issued on 22 January 2014 (Doc COR009) and the Examination proceeded broadly in line with the established timetable. I issued written questions on 22 January 2014, 27 January, 20 March, 16 April, 5 June and 6 June 2014. 1.9 My questions were directed particularly to the Applicant, the Highways Agency (HA), the Greater Morpeth Development Trust, Mitford Estate LLP, Mitford Parish Council (MPC), Natural England (NE), the Environment Agency (EA) and English Heritage (EH); interested parties’ views on the various questions put and answers given were also invited. 1.10 I held issue-specific hearings on 8 April 2014 and on 8 July 2014 to consider the drafting of the draft DCO. Later on 8 April I held an issue-specific hearing regarding the provision that would be made for non-motorised users. On 9 April I held a compulsory acquisition hearing, at the request of an affected party and, later on the same day, I held an open-floor hearing at the request of two interested parties. 1.11 I am satisfied that all those making representations had a full opportunity to participate in the examination, through written submissions and at the hearings. 1.12 On 27 March 2014 I made a site visit, accompanied by interested parties, to St Leonard’s Lane, Spital Hill, Fulbeck Lane, East Shield Morpeth Northern Bypass Report to the Secretary of State 4 Hill and the Pegswood Moor area. I had previously visited the area on an unaccompanied basis on 15 January 2014, when I viewed (from points to which the public has access) the Scheme route and points of relevance to the case. Other Consents Required 1.13 Table 2.19 of the ES is a list of authorisations, licences, permits and consents which are likely to be necessary for the Scheme to proceed.