Highways (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 1994
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1994 No. 3263
TRIBUNALS AND INQUIRIES
The Highways (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 1994
Made 15th December 1994
Laid before Parliament 20th December 1994
Coming into force 10th January 1995
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 19921, and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, and after consultation with the Council on Tribunals, hereby makes the following Rules:
PART I
GENERAL
Citation and Commencement
1. These Rules may be cited as the Highways (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 1994 and shall come into force on 10th January 1995.
Interpretation
2. In these Rules unless the context otherwise requires:
“the Act”means the Highways Act 19802;
“assessor”means a person appointed by the Secretary of State to sit with an inspector at an inquiry or reopened inquiry to advise the inspector in such matters arising as the Secretary of State may specify;
“document”includes a photograph, map or plan;
“highway works”means any works for the construction, improvement or alteration of a highway, or for the provision of means of access to premises or the diversion of a navigable watercourse in connection with the construction, improvement or alteration of a highway, and “the highway works”, in relation to an order or scheme, means the highway works authorised by that order or scheme;
“improvement”has the same meaning as in the Act;
“inquiry”means a local inquiry in relation to which these Rules apply;
“inspector”means a person appointed by the Secretary of State to hold an inquiry or a reopened inquiry;
“local authority”means a county council, the Council of a district or London Borough or the Common Council of the City of London;
“local highway authority”has the same meaning as in the Act;
“the order or scheme”means, in relation to an inquiry, the order or scheme in connection with which the inquiry is held or, where an inquiry is held in connection with more than one order or scheme, all the orders and schemes;
“outline statement”means in relation to a person a written statement of the principal submissions which that person proposes to put forward at an inquiry;
“pre-inquiry meeting”means a meeting held before an inquiry to consider what may be done with a view to securing that the inquiry is conducted efficiently and expeditiously, and where two or more such meetings are held references to the conclusion of a pre-inquiry meeting are references to the conclusion of the final meeting;
“the promoting authority”—
(a) in relation to an order or scheme proposed to be made by the Secretary of State, means the Secretary of State;
(b) in relation to an order or scheme made by a local highway authority and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation,means that local highway authority;
(c) in relation to a scheme under section 16(10) of the Act made by two or more local highway authorities and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation, means such one or more of those authorities as may, for the purpose of any particular provision of these Rules, be agreed between the authorities themselves or, in default of such agreement, be determined by the Secretary of State or the inspector;
“relevant date”means the date of the Secretary of State’s written notice to the promoting authority (if applicable) and the statutory objectors of his intention to cause an inquiry to be held, and “relevant notice” means that notice;
“site” means the site of any of the highway works authorised by the order or scheme or the site of any highway to which the order or scheme relates;
“statement of case” means a written statement which contains full particulars of the case which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry, and a list of any documents which that person intends to refer to or put in evidence;
“statutory objector” means any objector mentioned below whose objection has not been withdrawn or disregarded under paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to the Act —
(a) any body or person mentioned in the Table to paragraph 3 or in paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 to the Act3;
(b) any owner (within the meaning of section 329(1) of the Act), lessee or occupier of land which is likely to be required for the execution of any of the highway works;
(c) any person who is likely to be entitled to claim compensation under Part I of the Land Compensation Act 19734in respect of the use of any of the highway works.
Application of Rules
3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this rule, these Rules shall apply —
(a)
(a) to local inquiries caused by the Secretary of State to be held under paragraph 7(1) of Schedule 1 to the Act in connection with—
(i) orders proposed to be made by him under sections 10, 14, 18, 106 or 108 of the Act,
(ii) orders made by a local highway authority under sections 14, 18, 106 or 108 of the Act and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation; and
(b)
(b) to local inquiries caused by the Secretary of State to be held under paragraph 14(1) of Schedule 1 to the Act in connection with—
(i) schemes proposed to be made by him under section 16 of the Act, or
(ii) schemes made by a local highway authority under section 16 of the Act and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation.
(2) Part II of these Rules applies to local inquiries in connection with orders or schemes proposed to be made by the Secretary of State, Part III of these Rules applies to local inquiries in connection with orders or schemes made by a local highway authority and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation, and Parts I and IV of these Rules apply to all local inquiries referred to in paragraph (1) of this rule.
PART II
RULES APPLICABLE TO INQUIRIES IN CONNECTION WITH ORDERS OR SCHEMES PROPOSED TO BE MADE BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Preliminary action to be taken by the Secretary of State
4.—(1) Where the Secretary of State intends to cause an inquiry to be held, he shall, not later than 4 weeks after the date specified in paragraph (2), give written notice of that intention to each statutory objector at the address furnished to the Secretary of State.
(2) The date referred to in paragraph (1) above is the date of expiry of the period within which an objection to the draft order or scheme may be made.
Procedure where Secretary of State causes pre-inquiry meeting to be held
5.—(1) The Secretary of State may cause a pre-inquiry meeting (“a meeting”) to be held if it appears to him desirable and where he does so this rule applies.
(2) The Secretary of State shall serve with the relevant notice a notification of his intention to cause a meeting to be held.
(3) The Secretary of State shall, not later than 3 weeks after the relevant date, publish in a local newspaper circulating in the locality in which the site or sites are situated or, if more than one locality, a local newspaper circulating in each such locality, a notice of the Secretary of State’s intention to cause a meeting to be held.
(4) The Secretary of State shall, not later than 8 weeks after the relevant date, serve on each statutory objector his outline statement.
(5) When required by notice in writing from the Secretary of State to do so —
(a)
(a) any statutory objector, and
(b)
(b) any other person who has notified the Secretary of State of any intention or wish to appear at the inquiry,
shall, within 8 weeks of the date of such notice, serve upon the Secretary of State and on any other person specified in such notice,an outline statement.
(6) A meeting shall be held not later than 16 weeks after the relevant date.
(7) The Secretary of State shall give not less than 3 weeks' written notice of the date, time and location of the meeting to each statutory objector and any other person whose presence at the meeting seems to him to be desirable.
(8) The inspector shall preside at the meeting and shall determine the matters to be discussed and the procedure to be followed; and he may require any person present at the meeting who, in his opinion, is behaving in a disruptive manner to leave and may refuse to permit that person to return or to attend any further meeting, or may permit him to return or attend only on such conditions as he may specify.
(9) Where a meeting has been held pursuant to paragraph (1), the inspector may hold a further meeting. He shall arrange for such notice to be given of a further meeting as appears to him necessary and paragraph (8) shall apply to such a meeting.
Service of statements of case, etc
6.—(1) The Secretary of State shall not later than —
(a)
(a) 6 weeks after the relevant date, or
(b)
(b) where a pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 5, 4 weeks after the conclusion of that meeting,
serve his statement of case on each statutory objector.
(2) In addition to the statement of case served under paragraph (1) the Secretary of State shall serve upon each statutory objector a notice giving the names of all places, within each area in which the proposals contained in the order or scheme are to have effect (or as close as reasonably possible to any such area), where a copy of every document or the relevant part of any document which he intends to refer to or put in evidence may be inspected free of charge at all reasonable hours until the date of commencement of the inquiry.
(3) When required by notice in writing from the Secretary of State to do so —
(a)
(a) any statutory objector, or
(b)
(b) any other person who has notified him of an intention or wish to appear at the inquiry,
shall within 6 weeks from the date of such notice serve a statement of case on the Secretary of State.
(4) In addition...
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