Town and Country Planning (Enforcement) (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2002

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Town and Country Planning (Enforcement) (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2002 and shall come into force on 23rd December 2002.

(2) These Rules extend to England only.

Interpretation

2. In these Rules—

“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;

“certificate of lawful use or development” means a certificate under section 191 or 192 of the Planning Act;

“document” includes a photograph, map or plan;

“enforcement appeal” means an appeal against an enforcement notice;

“enforcement notice” means a notice under section 172 of the Planning Act or under section 38 of the Listed Buildings Act;

“inquiry” means a local inquiry to which these Rules apply;

“inspector” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State under Schedule 6 to the Planning Act or, as the case may be, Schedule 3 to the Listed Buildings Act to determine an appeal;

“land” means the land or building to which an inquiry relates;

“Listed Buildings Act” means the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990²;

“local planning authority” means in relation to—

(a) an enforcement appeal, the body who issued the relevant enforcement notice;

(b) an appeal against the refusal or non-determination of an application for a certificate of lawful use or development, the body to whom the application was made;

“outline statement” means a written statement of the principal submissions which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry;

“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;

“relevant notice” means the Secretary of State’s written notice under rule 4(1), informing the appellant and the local planning authority that an inquiry is to be held;

“starting date” means the date of the—

(a) Secretary of State’s written notice to the appellant and the local planning authority that he has received all the documents required to enable him to entertain the appeal pursuant to regulation 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Enforcement Notices and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2002⁴; 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 appellant, which contains agreed factual information about the development, breach of condition or works which are the subject of the appeal.

Application of the Rules

3.—(1) These Rules apply in relation to any local inquiry held in England by an inspector before he determines an appeal made on or after 23rd December 2002 under—

(a)

(a) section 174 of the Planning Act (appeal against enforcement notice);

(b)

(b) section 195 of the Planning Act (appeal against refusal or non-determination of an application for a certificate of lawful use or development);

(c)

(c) section 39 of the Listed Buildings Act (appeal against listed building enforcement notice) or under that section as applied by section 74(3) of that Act (appeal against conservation area enforcement notice),

but do not apply to any local inquiry by reason of the application of any provision mentioned in this rule by or under 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—

(a)

(a) the Town and Country Planning (Enforcement) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2002⁵; or

(b)

(b) the Town and Country Planning (Enforcement)(Inquiries Procedure) Rules 1992⁶,

any 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 Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after it is determined to hold an inquiry under these Rules, inform the appellant and the local planning authority in writing that an inquiry is to be held.

(2) The local planning authority shall within 2 weeks of the starting date—

(a)

(a) send to the Secretary of State and the appellant a completed questionnaire and a copy of each of the documents referred to in it;

(b)

(b) in the case of an enforcement appeal, notify any—

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.

Notification of name of inspector

5.—(1) The Secretary of State shall, subject to paragraph (2), notify the name of the inspector to every person entitled to appear at the inquiry.

(2) Where the Secretary of State appoints another inspector instead of the person previously appointed and it is not practicable to notify the new appointment before the inquiry is held, the inspector holding the inquiry shall, at its commencement, announce his name and the fact of his appointment.

Service of statements of case etc.

6.—(1) The local planning authority shall, within 6 weeks of the starting date, serve 2 copies of their statement of case on the Secretary of State and, in the case of an enforcement appeal, a copy on any person on whom a copy of the enforcement notice has been served.

(2) The local planning authority shall include in their statement of case details of the time and place where the opportunity will be given to inspect and take copies described in paragraph (13).

(3) The appellant shall, within 6 weeks of the starting date, serve 2 copies of his statement of case on the Secretary of State and, in the case of an enforcement appeal, a copy on any person on whom a copy of the enforcement notice has been served.

(4) The Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of the local planning authority’s statement of case to the appellant and a copy of the appellant’s statement of case to the local planning authority.

(5) The appellant and the local planning authority may in writing each require the other to send them a copy of any document, or the relevant part of any document, referred to in the list of documents comprised in that party’s statement of case; and any such document, or relevant part, shall be sent, as soon as practicable, to the party who required it.

(6) The Secretary of State may in writing require any other person who has notified him of an intention or a wish to appear at the inquiry, to serve—

(a)

(a) 3 copies of their statement of case on him within 4 weeks of being so required; and

(b)

(b) in the case of an enforcement appeal, simultaneously, a copy of their statement of case on any person specified by the Secretary of State,

and the Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of each such statement of case to the local planning authority and to the appellant.

(7) The Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable—

(a)

(a) send to any person from whom he requires a statement of case in accordance with paragraph (6) a copy of the statements of case of the appellant and the local planning authority; and

(b)

(b) inform that person of the name and address of every person to whom his statement of case is required to be sent.

(8) The Secretary of State may in writing require any person, who has served on him a statement of case in accordance with this rule, to provide such further information about the matters contained in the statement of case as he may specify and may specify the time within which the information shall be sent to him.

(9) A local planning authority or appellant required to provide further information, shall send within the time specified—

(a)

(a) 2 copies of that information in writing to the Secretary of State; and

(b)

(b) in the case of an enforcement appeal, a copy to any person on whom a copy of the enforcement notice has been served,

and the Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of the further information received from...