Section 106 — Applications relating to urgent works on Crown land
363.Section 106 provides that an appropriate Crown authority may apply directly to the Welsh Ministers for listed building consent (instead of to a planning authority) if:
the listed building is on Crown land, and
the appropriate Crown authority certifies that the works for which consent are sought are of national importance and must be carried out as a matter of urgency.
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365.The Crown Estate Commissioners might, for instance, make such an application relating to a listed building on the extensive Crown Estate holdings in Wales. The Crown Estate owns 65 per cent of the foreshore and riverbed in Wales, including the port of Milford Haven and a number of other ports and marinas. Similarly, the Ministry of Defence could apply for listed building consent for a building on one of the several military training areas in Wales.
366.In the latter instance, subsection (8) may be of particular relevance. It provides that the requirement in subsection (4) for the Welsh Ministers to make available for public inspection any statements and information relating to the application does not apply if the statement or information is subject to a direction under section 178. The Welsh Ministers would make a direction under that section where they are satisfied that the statement or information contains information relating to national security and that its disclosure would be contrary to the national interest.
367.Subsection (7) signposts the sections that provide for the procedure by which an application made under this section is to be considered. Section 174 sets out that the Welsh Ministers must choose to conduct proceedings in one or more of the following ways:
at a local inquiry,
at a hearing, or
by means of written representations.
