The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has now lifted the Article 14 Direction which had previously prevented Herefordshire Council from granting planning permission for the proposed wind farm. On this basis the council can now proceed to issue the decision notice in the usual way.
No timetable has yet been determined for the issuing of the planning permission.
There are two principal tasks that need to be concluded before the planning permission is issued:
Section 106 Agreement
The first is the signing of the Section 106 Agreement that was set out in the planning committee report on February 12, 2009. Detailed agreements will need to be secured with Shropshire County Council and Powys County Council on the transportation matters and routing arrangements during the constructional phases. There is also further work to be carried out on the proposed environmental mitigation fund. While these are very specific matters to be overcome to conclude the Section 106 Agreement in relation to this application it is perfectly normal for there to be a delay between the approval at committee of major applications and the conclusion of the associated section 106 agreement and the associated issuing of the decision notice.
Noise Conditions
The second task is that of reconfiguring the noise conditions as discussed at the committee. Detailed work will be carried out with the council’s own environmental health officers and, if necessary, with the council’s retained consultants.
The committee gave delegated authority to the council’s head of planning and transportation to approve the application once the Section 106 Agreement was signed. This resolution will be followed. In the event that substantive matters arise while these processes are being followed a decision will be taken with the council’s Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Democratic on the appropriateness or otherwise of referring the matter back to the planning committee.