The Examining Authority of the Planning Inspectorate which is considering Thames Water’s planning application for the proposed Tideway Tunnel yesterday held the first in a series of Open Hearings in London. 

The Examining Authority (EA) has decided to hold Open Floor hearings in a number of locations and venues that are close to some of the application work sites and communities has received most representations from. Last week the Authority held a series of Issue Specific hearings.

Yesterday’s hearing took place at Tower Bridge, with a second meeting taking place today in Parson’s Green. Open Hearings will also take place tomorrow in Deptford and at Glaziers Hall on Friday and on Saturday at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.

At an open-floor hearing, each interested party is entitled to make oral representations about the application. Each Interested Party who has notified the Examining Authority and indicated a wish to speak will be called in turn and will be allowed a maximum speaking time of five minutes for their oral submission, while a group or organisation will be allowed a maximum speaking time of fifteen minutes.

Following each submission the Authority may in turn ask the speaker questions. Thames Water is likely to be invited to briefly respond to any matters raised by each of the Interested Parties or in summary at the close of each session.

 Next week sees the start of the Planning Authority’s first First Draft Development Consent Order issue-specific Hearing. The Authority is inviting all Interested Parties to attend the hearing two-day Hearing which starts on Tuesday 26 November – deadline for confirmation of attendance is close of play tomorrow. The list of Interested Parties is extensive – it includes the Greater London Authority/Mayor of London (GLA), twelve London Boroughs, City of Westminster, City of London, London Legacy Development Corporation, Port of London Authority, Transport for London, Environment Agency, English Heritage, Marine Management Organisation Canal and River Trust, London Power Networks plc, National Grid, Network Rail and Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, Royal Mail and Royal Mail Estates Ltd, Southern Gas Networks, UK Power Networks, British Telecom, Cable and Wireless and British Gas.

All parties attending the hearing are asked to come prepared with a copy of the Draft Thames Water Utilities Limited (Thames Tideway Tunnel) Development Consent Order.

The DCO Hearings will then be followed by Compulsory Acquisition Hearings which will run from Thursday 28 November to Friday 20 December 2013 and 14 to 17 January 2014. The Authority is required to hold a Compulsory Acquisition Hearing when Affected Person(s) whose land interests are affected under the compulsory acquisition proposals have notified the Authority they wish to be heard. The list of Affected Persons who have requested to be heard at the Compulsory Acquisition hearing is similarly extensive and again includes a number of the London Boroughs, the Environment Agency, property companies and Transport for London.

Week 1 of the Hearings will deal with matters relating to the Thames Water’s case for the grant of compulsory acquisition powers, while weeks 2 to 4 will deal with all representations made by the APs and other Interested Parties, with week 5 dealing with other specific matters.

Deadline for closure of the examination is 12 March 2014. The Authority is under a duty to complete the examination of the application by the end of a six-month period of 6 months beginning with the last day of the preliminary meeting.