Electricity Act 1989 - transmission line projects and environmental impact assessment: pre-application consultation and engagement guidance

4. Planning and design stage 2: design and development including eia studies on the proposed alignment

The second stage in pre-application consultation and engagement addresses the design development of the proposed route. This builds on the first consultation and engagement activity and the Environmental Impact Assessment studies to finalise and confirm the alignment.

Consultation and engagement at this stage will advise how the initial comments and feedback from PAC event 1 have been addressed and provide additional levels of detail on the alignment. The proposed route and alignment will then be assessed as part of the statutory Environmental Impact Assessment process.

PAC Consultation Event 2 - Consultation, Engagement and Reporting

At this step, it is expected that the following will be undertaken:

• The TO will hold a minimum of one public in-person event, together with an online engagement opportunity, at which members of the public may make comments and provide feedback to the TO regarding the proposed development.
• The in-person event shall be held a minimum of 21 days after the first publication of a public notice advertising the event and notification of properties^[4]. The online engagement opportunity should be publicised at the in-person event, in all consultation and engagement publicity and on the TO’s website.
• Consultation at the event will enable the TO to present detailed proposals, advise on technical and environmental studies together with community and stakeholder feedback, and indicate how the information has been considered within the emerging proposals.
  • PAC Consultation Event 2 should consult on detailed alignment considerations that will help inform the final alignment.
  • The TO will seek specific feedback on the proposed alignment and the location of structures and construction arrangements.
• Information issued as part of pre-application consultation and engagement should be factually accurate, easy to understand, jargon free, accessible, and relevant. It should be made available in appropriate formats and provided in good time to enable people to take part and discuss their views with others. The minimum information provided to the public should include:
  • The reasons / need for the project and information on the benefits of the project.
  • How the project has been identified and by who.
  • Information on the location of the project including a description of the proposals.
  • Information on the potential environmental constraints of the project based on the level of environmental information available at this time.
  • Information on the process used to identify and appraise alignment options, select a preferred route option and develop the proposed route.
  • Summary information including a plan that the public can take away from the event.
  • Information on how the public can provide feedback on the proposed route alignment and any other matters relating to routeing that consultees feel should be considered by the TO.
• Any additional public and Community Council feedback following the event regarding alignment selection or other matters for consideration by the TO should be submitted to them within a minimum of 28 days (counted as 28 days commencing from the date of the last event ) unless otherwise advised at the PAC Event.
• At each event, the TO should have, wherever possible, professional staff familiar with environmental and technical matters to allow members of the public to discuss proposals and access support on technical subjects. Where a specific technical expert is not available the TO should ensure any specific questions are recorded and responded to.
• The TO should ensure that a collated summary of the feedback from the pre-application events including written submissions, feedback forms or feedback received through face-to-face discussions at PAC events, along with a response from the TO to the matters raised, is published on the TO’s project website.
• The TO should provide written responses and provide collated responses to the issues raised in the form of FAQ’s or key topic summaries to frequently raised subject matters, for example landscape, ecology, pylon detail, etc. This should be published on the TO’s website and included as a summary in the PAC report.

Presentation of the Finalised Proposal before Application

At this step, it is expected that the following will be undertaken:

• The TOs will hold a minimum of one public in-person event to present the finalised project proposal and report on the community and stakeholder feedback from earlier consultation and engagement events and how these have been considered in the final proposals.
• The in-person event shall be held a minimum of 21 days after publication of the first public notice advertising the event and notification of properties^[5]. The online engagement opportunity should be publicised at the in-person event, in all consultation and engagement publicity and on the TO’s website.
  • PAC Consultation Event 3 will summarise the final proposals that are intended to form the section 37 application. Consultation Event 3 should provide feedback to the community on the TO’s response to earlier stages of consultation and engagement.
  • The TO will set out the broad scope of the final proposals and advise how formal representations may be made post-application to Scottish Ministers.
  • Any feedback provided at the event should be summarised and addressed within the PAC Report.