The Town and Country Planning (Trees) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2008

Amendment of the Town and Country Planning (Trees) Regulations 1999

5.  For Part 4 of the Regulations (appeals to be disposed of on the basis of written representations and other documents) substitute—

“PART 4 APPEALS

Application of Part 4 and interpretation

11.— (1) This Part applies in relation to every appeal—

(a) under section 78 as applied to applications under orders (“a tree preservation order appeal”); or

(b) against a notice served under section 207(1) (“a tree replacement notice appeal”),

which is to be disposed of without a hearing or inquiry to which rules under section 9 (procedure in connection with statutory inquiries) of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992(1) apply, where that appeal is made on or after the date on which these Regulations come into force.

(2) In this Part—

“appointed person” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State under Schedule 6 to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to determine an appeal;

“parties” in relation to an appeal, means the appellant and the relevant authority;

“preliminary information” means the documents supplied by the relevant authority in accordance with regulation 13;

“questionnaire” means a document in the form supplied by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Part;

“relevant authority” in relation to an appeal, means the local planning authority that made the decision (including any failure to determine the application) or served the notice which is the subject of the appeal.

Notice of appeal

12.   The appellant shall, at the same time as he gives written notice to the Secretary of State of a tree preservation order appeal or a tree replacement notice appeal, send to the relevant authority a copy of the notice of appeal.

Preliminary information

13.   The relevant authority shall, as soon as practicable after receiving notification of an appeal, send copies of the following to the Secretary of State—

(a) in the case of a tree preservation order appeal—

(i) i)the application for consent, where relevant;

(ii) the decision of the relevant authority, if any, including any condition, certificate or direction made by the authority in relation to the decision.

(b) in the case of a tree replacement notice appeal—

(i) i)the notice issued under section 207(1);

(ii) where the notice has been issued following a failure to plant replacement trees under a condition of consent, the original application and consent;

(iii) where the notice has been issued as a result of the breach of an order under section 206(1)(a) (removal, uprooting or destruction of tree in contravention of tree preservation order), the date of that breach, if not included in the notice;

(iv) where the notice has been issued as a result of a failure to replace a protected tree removed under the exemption in section 206(1)(b) (dying, dead or dangerous trees), the date of the alleged failure, if not included in the notice.

Questionnaire

14.— (1) The Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable after receipt of the preliminary information, supply a questionnaire to the relevant authority.

(2) The relevant authority shall, within such period as the Secretary of State may specify in writing, being not less than 21 days from the date on which the questionnaire was supplied, submit to her and copy to the appellant a completed questionnaire.

(3) The questionnaire shall state the date on which it is submitted to the Secretary of State.

Further information

15.— (1) The Secretary of State or the appointed person (as the case may be) may in writing require the parties to provide such further information, including any representations, relevant to the appeal as she may specify.

(2) Such information must be provided in writing within such period as the Secretary of State or the appointed person may specify.

Decision

16.   Where under regulation 15 information is required to be provided within a specified period, the Secretary of State or the appointed person (as the case may be) may proceed to a decision on an appeal taking into account only such information as has been submitted within the specified period.

Electronic communications

17.   Where an appeal is made using electronic communications, the appellant shall be taken to have agreed—

(a) to the use of such communications by the Secretary of State for the purposes of his appeal;

(b) that his address for that purpose is the address incorporated into, or otherwise logically associated with, his appeal; and

(c) that his deemed agreement under this paragraph shall subsist until he gives notice in writing—

(i) i)withdrawing any address notified to the Secretary of State for that purpose; or

(ii) revoking that deemed agreement,

and such withdrawal or revocation shall be final and shall take effect on the date specified by the person in the notice being not less than seven days after the date on which the notice is given.”.

(1)

1992 c. 53.