76.Section 20 inserts a new section 10A after section 10 of the 1997 Act enabling planning authorities to decline to determine an application for listed building consent in certain situations. Subsections (1)(a) to (1)(e) set out the specific circumstances where a planning authority may decline to determine an application for listed building consent.
77.Section 10A(2) clarifies that an application for listed building consent is taken to be similar to another such application if the listed building and works to which the applications relate are in the opinion of the planning authority the same or substantially the same.
78.Subsection (2) of section 20 allows for an appeal to be made to the Scottish Ministers where the planning authority have failed to give notice to a person applying for listed building consent that they have declined to determine the application under the power in section 10A.