South East Plan Information

Assessor's Report

An independent technical assessor was appointed to examine all of the evidence to inform the South East Plan on SPA issues and review Natural England’s Delivery Plan. His report was published on 19 February 2007. Follow the links on the right-hand side of this page to see the full report or a summary of the recommendations. The Council has made representations on the Assessor’s Report at the South East Plan Examination in Public (EiP), both alone and as a member of the group of local authorities affected by the SPA; these representations are provided in the download section.

Within these representations it is made clear that the Council’s opinion is that the Assessor’s Report carries no weight for the determination of planning applications.

In addition, the Planning Inspectorate has issued Advice Note 2 to provide clarity on the weight to be given to the recommendations within the Assessor’s Report. This states that, “given its purpose in informing the SEP Panel, who will in turn report to the Secretary of State (SoS), decision-makers are currently not in a position to rely upon the Assessor’s conclusions and recommendations.”

More recently, the Panel of Inspectors has published their report on the South East Plan. This includes some recommendations relating to Thames Basin Heaths SPA. There is a link to the Panel Report on the right hand side of the page.