§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on what grounds he rejected the representations from the applicants for the proposed Portsmouth Harbour (Gunwharf Quays) (Millennium Tower) Order concerning the objections to this Order due to be received by him by 20 December; what criteria he uses to make such decisions; and how much time he will give the applicants to revise their representations. [106804]
§ Mr. HillThe application by the Berkeley Festival Waterfront Company Ltd. for powers to construct the Millennium Tower is subject to the written representations procedure under the Transport and Works Act 1992. The applicants complied with the first stage of this procedure on 20 December by sending to the Department representations on each objection to their application. They did not, however, include in their representations information which had been sought by the Department concerning the proposed use of the Tower. We need to be satisfied that the essential purpose of the Tower would fall within the definition of an observation structure, in order to establish that it would be within the powers of the 1992 Act to make the proposed Order. It would not be appropriate to progress the application further until this fundamental issue has been addressed. We expect the applicants to respond shortly on this issue.