7
unable to be specific about the amount of time each application will take to process owing
to the need for careful assessment of all the circumstances relevant to each application.
3.4. Applicants need to establish, by providing appropriate information to the Secretary of
State, that an overhead line connection or reinforcement is needed (for instance in areas
where there is little or no existing network or to connect a new energy generation) and that
the development applied for, including the route proposed, is an acceptable way of
satisfying that need. It is advisable, therefore for applicants to contact bodies with relevant
specialist expertise and information at an early stage when framing proposals for new
overhead lines or major works to replace existing lines.
3.5. The extent to which prior consultation will need to be undertaken before making the
application, and with whom, is of course a matter for the applicant to determine. Much will
depend on the nature and size of the proposed development, and the potential local
impact that would occur. The way an applicant’s proposed development is perceived by
interested parties may be influenced by how it has been presented to them, and
consultation at an early stage can be beneficial to both applicants and those potentially
impacted by the proposal. It is from such contacts with people, who either have to
evaluate the development in the consents process or expect to have to live with it on the
ground should it be installed, that difficulties with a proposal can be identified and aired,
and the applicant given the opportunity to strengthen the application, either by making
modifications to the proposal or to explain why such modifications need not or cannot be
made.
3.6. Where the applicant proposes works to replace an existing overhead line that are exempt
from obtaining new consent under section 37, the relevant planning authority must be
notified. If the relevant planning authority considers that there is likely to be a significant
adverse environmental effect, it may require that the works should obtain new section 37
consent. For emergency works in National Parks and AONBs the 2009 Regulations
provide that, while the relevant planning authority must be notified as soon as possible by
the applicant, the essential and urgent work can be commenced within the authority’s 6-
week determination period, with any necessary action to formalise the situation being
completed as soon as practicable. For emergency works in a SSSI there is provision that
such works shall be a reasonable excuse for non-compliance provided that Natural
England or Natural Resources Wales is notified as soon as practicable after the start of
the works.
Amenity and Environmental Impact Assessments
3.7. When preparing an application for consent of an overhead line, the applicant must:
(a) have regard to the desirability of preserving natural beauty, of conserving flora, fauna and
geological or physiographical features of special interest and of protecting sites, buildings
and objects of architectural, historic or archaeological interest; and
(b) do what they reasonably can to mitigate any effect which the proposals would have on the
natural beauty of the countryside or on any such flora, fauna, features, sites, buildings or
objects
.
3.8. In considering such proposals the Secretary of State must have regard to the matters
mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) and the extent to which the applicant has complied with
this duty under sub-paragraph (b)
.
Paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 9 to the Electricity Act 1989.