47Constitution of Planning Inquiry Commission
(1)The Secretary of State may constitute a Planning Inquiry Commission to inquire into and report on any matter referred to them under section 48 of this Act.
(2)Any such commission shall consist of a chairman and not less than two nor more than four other members appointed by the Secretary of State.
(3)The Secretary of State may pay to the members of any such commission such remuneration and allowances as he may with the consent of the Minister for the Civil Service determine, and may provide for each such commission such officers or servants and such accommodation, as appears to him expedient to provide for the purpose of assisting the commission in the discharge of their functions.
(4)The validity of any proceedings of any such commission shall not be affected by any vacancy among the members of the commission or by any defect in the appointment of any member.
(5)In Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1957 c. 20.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 (commissions, tribunals and other bodies all members of which are disqualified under that Act), in its application to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the following entry shall be inserted at the appropriate place in alphabetical order:—
“A Planning Inquiry Commission constituted under Part III of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971”.
(6)The " Secretary of State ", in relation to any matter affecting both England and Wales, means in subsections (1) and (2) of this section the Secretaries of State for the time being having general responsibility in planning matters in relation to England and in relation to Wales acting jointly, and in subsection (3) of this section one of those Secretaries of State authorised by the other to act on behalf of both of them for the purposes of that subsection.