Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013
| Year | 2013 |
Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013
2013 CHAPTER 27
An Act to make provision in connection with facilitating or controlling the following, namely, the provision or use of infrastructure, the carrying-out of development, and the compulsory acquisition of land; to make provision about when rating lists are to be compiled; to make provision about the rights of employees of companies who agree to be employee shareholders; and for connected purposes.
[25th April 2013]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
Promoting growth and facilitating provision of infrastructure, and related matters
1 Option to make planning application directly to Secretary of State
(1) In the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, after section 62 insert-
"62A When application may be made directly to Secretary of State
(1) A relevant application that would otherwise have to be made to the local planning authority may (if the applicant so chooses) be made instead to the Secretary of State if the following conditions are met at the time it is made-
(a) the local planning authority concerned is designated by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section; and
(b) the development to which the application relates (where the application is within subsection (2)(b)(i)), or the development for which outline planning permission has been granted (where the application is within subsection (2)(b)(ii)), is major development.
(2) In this section-
(a) "major development" means development of a description prescribed by the Secretary of State;
(i) an application for planning permission for the development of land in England, other than an application of the kind described in section 73(1); or
(ii) an application for approval of a matter that, as defined by section 92, is a reserved matter in the case of an outline planning permission for the development of land in England.
(3) Where a relevant application is made to the Secretary of State under this section, an application under the planning Acts-
(i) an application for listed building consent, or for conservation area consent, under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, or
(ii) an application of a description prescribed by the Secretary of State,
(b) that is considered by the person making the application to be connected with the relevant application,
(c) that would otherwise have to be made to the local planning authority or hazardous substances authority,
(d) that is neither a relevant application nor an application of the kind described in section 73(1), and
(e) that relates to land in England,
may (if the person so chooses) be made instead to the Secretary of State.
(4) If an application ("the connected application") is made to the Secretary of State under subsection (3) but the Secretary of State considers that it is not connected with the relevant application concerned, the Secretary of State may-
(a) refer the connected application to the local planning authority, or hazardous substances authority, to whom it would otherwise have been made; and
(i) is to be treated as having been made to that authority (and not to the Secretary of State under this section), and
(ii) is to be determined by that authority accordingly.
(5) The decision of the Secretary of State on an application made to the Secretary of State under this section shall be final.
(6) The Secretary of State may give directions requiring a local planning authority or hazardous substances authority to do things in relation to an application made to the Secretary of State under this section that would otherwise have been made to the authority; and directions under this subsection-
(a) may relate to a particular application or to applications more generally; and
(b) may be given to a particular authority or to authorities more generally.
62B Designation for the purposes of section 62A
(1) An authority may be designated for the purposes of section 62A only if-
(a) the criteria that are to be applied in deciding whether to designate the authority are set out in a document to which subsection (2) applies,
(b) by reference to those criteria, the Secretary of State considers that there are respects in which the authority are not adequately performing their function of determining applications under this Part, and
(c) the criteria that are to be applied in deciding whether to revoke a designation are set out in a document to which subsection (2) applies.
(2) This subsection applies to a document if-
(a) the document has been laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State,
(b) the 40-day period for the document has ended without either House of Parliament having during that period resolved not to approve the document, and
(c) the document has been published (whether before, during or after the 40-day period for it) by the Secretary of State in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
(3) In this section "the 40-day period" for a document is the period of 40 days beginning with the day on which the document is laid before Parliament (or, if it is not laid before each House of Parliament on the same day, the later of the two days on which it is laid).
(4) In calculating the 40-day period for a document, no account is to be taken of any period during which-
(a) Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, or
(b) both Houses of Parliament are adjourned for more than four days.
(5) None of the following may be designated for the purposes of section 62A-
(a) the Homes and Communities Agency;
(b) the Mayor of London;
(c) a Mayoral development corporation;
(d) an urban development corporation.
(6) The Secretary of State must publish (in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks fit)-
(a) any designation of an authority for the purposes of section 62A, and
(b) any revocation of such a designation.
62C Notifying parish councils of applications under sect ion 62A(1)
(1) If an application is made to the Secretary of State under section 62A(1) and a parish council would be entitled under paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to be notified of the application were it made to the local planning authority, the Secretary of State must notify the council of-
(a) the application, and
(b) any alteration to the application accepted by the Secretary of State.
(2) Paragraph 8(4) and (5) of Schedule 1 apply in relation to duties of the Secretary of State under subsection (1) as they apply to duties of a local planning authority under paragraph 8(1) of that Schedule.
(3) An authority designated for the purposes of section 62A must comply with requests from the Secretary of State for details of requests received by the authority under paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 1."
(2) Schedule 1 (amendments related to applications made under the new section 62A, including provision for such applications to be determined by a person appointed for the purpose unless the Secretary of State otherwise directs) has effect.
2 Planning proceedings: costs etc
(1) In section 320 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (local inquiries), at the end insert-
"(3) In its application by subsection (2) to an inquiry held in England, section 250(4) of that Act has effect as if-
(a) after "the costs incurred by him in relation to the inquiry" there were inserted ", or such portion of those costs as he may direct,", and
(b) after "the amount of the costs so incurred" there were inserted "or, where he directs a portion of them to be paid, the amount of that portion"."
(2) In section 322 of that Act (orders as to costs of parties where no local inquiry held), after subsection (1A) insert-
"(1B) Section 250(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 applies to costs incurred by the Secretary of State, or a person appointed by the Secretary of State, in relation to proceedings in England to which this section applies which do not give rise to a local inquiry as it applies to costs incurred in relation to a local inquiry.
(1C) In its application for that purpose, section 250(4) of that Act has effect as if-
(a) after "the costs incurred by him in relation to the inquiry" there were inserted ", or such portion of those costs as he may direct,", and
(b) after "the amount of the costs so incurred" there were inserted "or, where he directs a portion of them to be paid, the amount of that portion".
(1D) Section 42 of the Housing and Planning Act 1986 (recovery of Minister's costs) applies to costs incurred in relation to proceedings in England to which this section applies which do not give rise to a local inquiry as it applies to costs incurred in relation to an inquiry."
(3) In section 322A of that Act (costs orders: supplementary), after subsection (2) insert-
"(3) Where this section applies in the case of an inquiry or hearing which was to take place in England but did not, section 250(4) of that Act applies to costs incurred by the Secretary of State or a person appointed by the Secretary of State as if-
(a) in the case of an inquiry, the inquiry had taken place;
(b) in the case of a hearing, the hearing were an inquiry which had taken place.
(4) In its application for that purpose, section 250(4) of that Act has effect as if-
(a) after "the costs incurred by him in relation to the inquiry" there were inserted ", or such portion of those costs as he may direct,", and
(b) after "the amount of the costs so incurred" there were inserted "or, where he directs a portion of them to be...
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