Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2000/1624 |
| Year | 2000 |
2000 No. 1624
TRIBUNALS AND INQUIRIES, ENGLAND
The Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000
Made 17th June 2000
Laid before Parliament 27th June 2000
Coming into force 1st August 2000
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 19921and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, and after consultation with the Council of Tribunals, hereby makes the following Rules:—
Citation, commencement, and extent
1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000.
(2) These Rules shall come into force on 1st August 2000.
(3) These Rules extend to England only.
Interpretation
2. In these Rules—
“applicant” in the case of an appeal, means the appellant;
“assessor” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State to sit with an inspector at an inquiry or re-opened inquiry to advise the inspector on such matters arising as the Secretary of State may specify;
“the Commission” means the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England;
“conservation area consent” has the meaning given in section 74(1) of the Listed Buildings Act;
“development order” has the meaning given in section 59 of the Planning Act;
“document” includes a photograph, map or plan;
“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 re-opened inquiry;
“land” means the land or building to which an inquiry relates;
“the Listed Buildings Act” means the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 19902;
“listed building consent” has the meaning given in section 8(7) of the Listed Buildings Act;
“local planning authority” means in relation to—
(i) a referred application, the body who would otherwise have dealt with the application;
(ii) an appeal, the body who were responsible for dealing with the application occasioning the appeal;
“outline statement” means a written statement of the principal submissions which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry;
“the Planning Act” means the Town and Country Planning Act 19903;
“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;
“questionnaire” means a document in the form supplied by the Secretary of State to local planning authorities for the purpose of proceedings under these Rules;
“referred application” means an application of any description mentioned in rule 3(1) which is referred to the Secretary of State for determination;
“relevant notice” means the Secretary of State’s written notice informing the applicant and the local planning authority that an inquiry is to be held;
“the 1992 Rules” means the Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 19924;
“starting date” means the date of the—
(a) Secretary of State’s written notice to the applicant and the local planning authority that he has received all the documents required to enable him to entertain the application or appeal; or
(b) relevant notice,
whichever is the later;
“statement of case” means, and is comprised of, 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;
“statement of common ground” means a written statement prepared jointly by the local planning authority and the applicant, which contains agreed factual information about the proposal, which is the subject of the application or appeal;
“statutory party” means—
(a) a person mentioned in paragraph (1)(b)(i) of article 19 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 19955whose representations the Secretary of State is required by paragraph (3) of that article to take into account in determining the referred application or appeal to which an inquiry relates; and, in the case of an appeal, such a person whose representations the local planning authority were required by paragraph (1) of that article to take into account in determining the application occasioning the appeal; and
(b) a person whose representations the Secretary of State is required by paragraphs (3)(b) and (5) of regulation 6 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Regulations 19906to take into account in determining the referred application or appeal to which an inquiry relates; and, in the case of an appeal, a person whose representations the local planning authority were required by paragraph (3)(b) of that regulation to take into account in determining the application occasioning the appeal.
Application of Rules
3.—(1) These Rules apply in relation to any local inquiry caused by the Secretary of State to be held in England before he determines—
(a)
(a) an application for planning permission referred to him under section 77, or an appeal to him under section 78, of the Planning Act;
(b)
(b) an application for listed building consent referred to him under section 12, or for variation or discharge of conditions referred to him under that section as applied by section 19, or an appeal to him under section 20, of the Listed Buildings Act;
(c)
(c) an application for conservation area consent referred to him under section 12 (including an application to which that section is applied by section 19), or an appeal to him under section 20, of the Listed Buildings Act as those sections are applied by section 74(3) of that Act,
but do not apply to any local inquiry by reason of the application of any provision mentioned in this paragraph by any other enactment.
(2) Where these Rules apply in relation to an appeal which at some time fell to be disposed of in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 20007or Rules superseded by those Rules8any step taken or thing done under those Rules which could have been done under any corresponding provision of these Rules shall have effect as if it had been taken or done under that corresponding provision.
Preliminary information to be supplied by local planning authority
4.—(1) The local planning authority shall, on receipt of the relevant notice, forthwith inform the Secretary of State and the applicant in writing of the name and address of any statutory party who has made representations to them; and the Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, inform the applicant and the local planning authority in writing of the name and address of any statutory party who has made representations to him.
(2) This paragraph applies where—
(a)
(a) the Secretary of State has given to the local planning authority a direction restricting the grant of planning permission for which application was made; or
(b)
(b) in a case relating to listed building consent, the Commission has given a direction to the local planning authority pursuant to section 14(2) of the Listed Buildings Act as to how the application is to be determined; or
(c)
(c) the Secretary of State or any other Minister of the Crown or any government department, or any body falling within rule 11(1)(c), has expressed in writing to the local planning authority the view that the application should not be granted either wholly or in part, or should be granted only subject to conditions; or
(d)
(d) any person consulted in pursuance of a development order has made representations to the local planning authority about the application.
(3) Where paragraph (2) applies, the local planning authority shall forthwith after the starting date inform the person concerned of the inquiry and, unless they have already done so, that person shall thereupon give the local planning authority a written statement of the reasons for making the direction, expressing the view or making the representations, as the case may be.
(4) Subject to paragraph (5), the local planning authority shall ensure that within 2 weeks of the starting date—
(a)
(a) the Secretary of State and the applicant have received a completed questionnaire and a copy of each of the documents referred to in it;
(b)
(b) any—
(i) statutory party; and
(ii) other person who made representations to the local planning authority about the application occasioning the appeal,
has been notified that an appeal has been made and of the address to which and of the period within which they may make representations to the Secretary of State.
(5) The requirements of the previous paragraph do not apply in respect of referred applications.
Procedure where Secretary of State causes pre-inquiry meeting to be held
5.—(1) The Secretary of State shall hold a pre-inquiry meeting—
(a)
(a) if he expects an inquiry to last for 8 days or more, unless he considers it is unnecessary;
(b)
(b) in respect of shorter inquiries, if it appears to him necessary.
(2) Where the Secretary of State decides to hold a pre-inquiry meeting the following provisions shall apply—
(a)
(a) the Secretary of State shall send with the relevant notice—
(i) notice of his intention to hold a pre-inquiry meeting;
(ii) a statement of the matters about which he particularly wishes to be informed for the purposes of his consideration of the application or appeal in question and where another Minister of the Crown or a government department has expressed in writing to the Secretary of State a view which is mentioned in rule 4(2)(c), the Secretary of State shall set this out in...
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