The Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Appointed Person) (Inquiries Procedure) (Scotland) Rules 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules are complementary to the Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (Scotland) Rules 1997. They amend and replace the Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Appointed Person) (Inquiries Procedure) (Scotland) Rules 1980, as amended, which are revoked, subject to the transitional provisions contained in rule 25(2).

The Rules prescribe the procedures to be followed at local inquiries held in connection with appeals made to the Secretary of State where such appeals fall to be determined by a person appointed for the purpose by the Secretary of State, in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to the Planning (Listed Buildings and Buildings in Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 and of the Schedule to the Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Act 1997.

The principal changes made by these Rules are as follows:–

(a) the Rules no longer apply to the conduct of hearings held for purposes of these Acts. A non-statutory Code of Practice for Hearings has been published separately by The Scottish Office;

(b) the planning authority must complete a questionnaire and return it to the Secretary of State, together with copies of documents relating to the case;

(c) in order to make more effective use of pre-inquiry time the Rules require that, wherever possible, the timescales for pre-inquiry procedures, for example the submission and circulation of parties' statements of case, are fixed by forward reference from the date when it is decided that the case will go to inquiry – the “relevant date”;

(d) rule 6 provides a statutory framework for the holding of pre-inquiry meetings;

(e) rule 7(2)(b) requires planning authorities to include as part of their statement of case a list of the conditions (if any) which they presently consider should be imposed on any grant of planning permission by the Secretary of State;

(f) rule 8 places a statutory obligation on the appellant to disclose at an early stage the principal basis of his case. In addition, rule 9 enables the Secretary of State to require any other party who has notified an intention to attend the inquiry to submit a statement of case prior to the commencement of that inquiry;

(g) where a party intends to give evidence at an inquiry by reference to a precognition – a written statement of the evidence they shall give – and that precognition exceeds 2,000 words, rule 11 imposes a statutory requirement on that party to submit a written summary of the precognition. Further, where a summary is provided only that summary shall be read out at the inquiry, although parties may be questioned on the content of their whole precognition;

(h) rule 13 provides for the Secretary of State to notify the appointment of an assessor to persons entitled to appear at the inquiry;

(i) rule 14 provides that the start date for the inquiry shall be not later than 24 weeks after the relevant date, unless the Secretary of State considers such a date impracticable;

(j) rule 19 provides that the appellant shall normally begin and shall have the final right of reply at the inquiry. This rule also clarified the appointed person’s powers to restrict the giving of evidence which is repetitious or irrelevant.

There are also a number of minor and drafting amendments, as well as necessary updating of references to the relevant legislation.

A copy of the appeals questionnaire referred to in these Rules may be obtained from the Scottish Office Inquiry Reporters Unit, 2 Greenside Lane, Edinburgh EH1 3AG.