Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997

Validity of instruments, decisions and proceedings

57 Validity of certain orders and decisions

(1) Except as provided by section 58, the validity of—

(a) any order under section 21, whether before or after it has been confirmed,

(b) any order under section 24, or

(c) any such decision on the part of the Secretary of State as is mentioned in subsection (2),

shall not be questioned in any legal proceedings whatsoever.

(2) Those decisions are—

(a) any decision on an application referred to the Secretary of State under section 11 or on an appeal under section 18,

(b) any decision of the Secretary of State to confirm or not to confirm a listed building purchase notice including—

(i) any decision not to confirm such a notice in respect of part of the land to which it relates, and

(ii) any decision to grant any consent, or give any direction, in lieu of confirming such a notice, either wholly or in part, and

(c) any decision of the Secretary of State on an appeal under section 35.

(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the exercise of any jurisdiction of any court in respect of any refusal or failure on the part of the Secretary of State to take any such action as is mentioned in subsection (2).

58 Proceedings for questioning validity of other orders, decisions and directions

(1) If any person is aggrieved by any such order or decision as is mentioned in section 57(1) and wishes to question its validity on the grounds—

(a) that it is not within the powers of this Act, or

(b) that any of the relevant requirements have not been complied with in relation to it,

he may make an application to the Court of Session under this section.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), if the authority directly concerned with any such order or decision wish to question its validity on any of those grounds, the authority may make an application to the Court of Session under this section.

(3) An application under this section must be made within 6 weeks from the date on which the order is confirmed (or, in the case of an order under section 21 which takes effect under section 23 without confirmation, the date on which it takes effect) or, as the case may be, the date on which the decision is made.

(4) On any application under this section the Court of Session—

(a) may by interim order suspend the operation of the order or decision the validity of which is questioned by the application, until the final determination of the proceedings, and

(b) if satisfied—

(i) that the order or decision is not within the powers of this Act, or

(ii) that the interests of the applicant have been substantially prejudiced by a failure to comply with any of the relevant requirements in relation to it,

may quash that order or decision.

(5) References in this section to the confirmation of an order include the confirmation of an order subject to modifications as well as the confirmation of an order in the form in which it was made.

(6) In this section “the relevant requirements”, in relation to any order or decision, means any requirements of this Act or of the [1992 c. 53.] Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992, or of any order, regulations or rules made under either of those Acts, which are applicable to that order or decision.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (2) the authority directly concerned with any order or decision is—

(a) the planning authority, and

(b) in relation to any such decision as is mentioned in section 57(2)(b) where the Secretary of State has modified the notice wholly or in part by substituting another planning authority or statutory undertakers for the planning authority, also that authority or those statutory undertakers.