Town and Country Planning Act 1959

31 Proceedings for challenging validity of certain orders and decisions

(1) If any person—

(a) is aggrieved by any order to which this section applies and desires to question the validity of that order, on the grounds that the order is not within the powers of the Act of 1947, or that any of the relevant requirements have not been complied with in relation to that order, or

(b) is aggrieved by any action on the part of the Minister to which this section applies and desires to question the validity of that action, on the grounds that the action is not within the powers of the Act of 1947, of the Act of 1954, or of this Act, as the case may be, or that any of the relevant requirements have not been complied with in relation to that action,

he may, within six weeks from the date on which the order is confirmed or the action is taken, as the case may be, make an application to the High Court under this section.

(2) Without prejudice to the preceding subsection, if—

(a) the authority directly concerned with any order to which this section applies desire to question the validity of that order on any of the grounds mentioned in paragraph (a) of the preceding subsection, or

(b) the authority directly concerned with any action on the part of the Minister to which this section applies desire to question the validity of that action on any of the grounds mentioned in paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection,

the authority may, within six weeks from the date on which the order is confirmed or the action is taken, as the case may be, make an application to the High Court under this section.

(3) This section applies to the following orders made after the commencement of this Act, that is to say—

(a) any order under section twenty-one of the Act of 1947 (which relates to the revocation or modification of planning permission) or under the provisions of that section as applied by or under any other provision of that Act;

(b) any order under section twenty-six of that Act (which relates to orders requiring a use of land to be discontinued, or imposing conditions on the continuance of such a use);

(c) any order under section twenty-eight of that Act (which relates to the preservation of trees and woodlands);

(d) any order under section twenty-nine of that Act (which relates to the preservation of buildings of special architectural or historic interest);

(e) any order made in pursuance of subsection (4) of section thirty-one of that Act (which relates to the definition of areas of special control for the purposes of the control of advertisements).

(4) This section applies to action on the part of the Minister, taken after the commencement of this Act, of any of the following descriptions, that is to say—

(a) any decision of the Minister on an application for planning permission referred to him under section fifteen of the Act of 1947;

(b) any decision of the Minister on an appeal under section sixteen of that Act (which relates to appeals against planning decisions of local planning authorities);

(c) any decision of the Minister to confirm a notice under section nineteen of that Act (which relates to notices requiring the purchase of land by a local authority where permission to develop is refused) or under the provisions of that section as applied by or under any other provision of that Act or of the Act of 1954, and any decision of the Minister not to confirm such a notice (including any decision not to confirm such a notice in respect of part of the land to which it relates, and including any decision to grant any permission, or give any direction, in lieu of confirming such a notice, either wholly or in part);

(d) any decision of the Minister relating to an application for consent under an order made by virtue of section twenty-eight or section twenty-nine of the Act of 1947 or under any regulations made under that Act in accordance with section thirty-one of that Act. or relating to any certificate or direction under such an order or under any such regulations, being either a decision of the Minister on appeal or a decision on an application referred to him for determination in the first instance;

(e) the giving by the Minister of any direction under section twenty-three of the Act of 1954 (which relates to the review of planning decisions where compensation is, claimed) or under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of section forty-five of that Act (which relates to the review of past planning decisions and orders);

(f) any decision of the Minister on an appeal under section six of this Act.

(5) On any application under this section the High Court—

(a) may by interim order suspend the operation of the order or action, the validity whereof is questioned by the application, until the final determination of the proceedings;

(b) if satisfied that the order or action in question is not within the powers of the Act of 1947, of the Act of 1954, or of this Act, as the case may be, or that the interests of the applicant have been substantially prejudiced by a failure to comply with any of the relevant requirements in relation thereto, may quash that order or action:

Provided that paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not apply to applications questioning the validity of orders under section twenty-eight or section twenty-nine of the Act of 1947.

(6) In relation to any such order as is mentioned in paragraph (c) or paragraph (e) of subsection (3) of this section, the powers conferred on the High Court by the last preceding subsection shall be exercisable by way of quashing or (where applicable) suspending the operation of the order either in whole or in part, as the court may determine.

(7) Subject to the preceding provisions of this section, the validity of an order to which this section applies, whether before or after it has been confirmed, and the validity of any action on the part of the Minister to which this section applies, shall not be questioned in any legal proceedings whatsoever.

(8) 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 Minister to take any action to which this section applies.

(9) In relation to any action which—

(a) apart from the provisions of the Fifth Schedule to the Act of 1947 (which contains special provisions relating to development by statutory undertakers) would fall to be taken by the Minister, and, if so taken, would be action to which this section applies, but

(b) by virtue of that Schedule is required to be taken by the Minister and the appropriate Minister, the preceding provisions of this section shall have effect as if any reference in those provisions to the Minister were a reference to the Minister and the appropriate Minister :

Provided that where, by virtue of that Schedule, any such action is required to be embodied in an order, and that order is subject to special parliamentary procedure, then—

(i) if the order in which the action is embodied is confirmed by Act of Parliament under section six of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act, 1945, the preceding provisions of this section shall not apply;

(ii) in any other case, subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall apply with the substitution, for any reference to the date on which the action is taken, of a reference to the date on which the order becomes operative under the said section six.

(10) References in this section to the confirmation of an order do not include the provisional confirmation of an order in pursuance of the proviso to subsection (4) of section twenty-eight or the proviso to subsection (4) of section twenty-nine of the Act of 1947, but (with that exception) 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.

(11) In this section "the relevant requirements", in relation to any order or action to which this section applies, means any requirements of the Act of 1947, the Act of 1954, the Tribunals and Inquiries Act, 1958, or this Act, or of any order, regulations or rules made under any of those Acts, which are applicable to that order or action, and any reference to the authority directly concerned with any order or action to which this section applies—

(a) in relation to an order made by a local authority other than the local planning authority, and in relation to any decision of the Minister on appeal from a decision made by such a local authority, is a reference to that local authority;

(b) in relation to any such decision as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (4) of this section, is a reference to the council on whom the notice in question was served, and, in a case where the Minister has modified such a notice, wholly or in part, by substituting another local authority or statutory undertakers for that council, includes a reference to that local authority or those statutory undertakers;

(c) in any other case, is a reference to the local planning authority:

Provided that if, in a case falling within paragraph (a) of this subsection, the order or decision in question was made in the exercise of functions delegated to the other local authority by the local planning authority, and it is agreed between the two authorities that the local planning authority shall act in the matter, the reference shall be construed as a reference to the local planning authority.

(12) In the application of this section to Scotland—

(a) for references to the Act of 1947 and to the following provisions of that Act, that is to say, sections fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-six, twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty-one, and subsection (4) of the said section twenty-eight, there shall be substituted references respectively to the Scottish Act of 1947 and to the following provisions of that Act, that is to say, sections thirteen, fourteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-four, twenty-six, twenty-seven and twenty-nine, and subsection (5) of the said section twenty-six ;

(b) for references to the Act of 1954 and to section forty-five of that Act there shall be substituted references respectively to the Scottish Act of 1954 and to section forty-seven of that Act;

(c) for any reference to the High Court there shall be substituted a reference to the Court of Session;

(d) in the proviso to subsection (9), in paragraph (i), the reference to section six of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act, 1945, shall be construed as including a reference to subsection (4) of section two of that Act; and in paragraph (ii), for the words " the said section six" there shall be substituted the words " the said Act of 1945 ; " and

(e) notwithstanding anything in subsection (11) any reference to the authority directly concerned with any order or action to which this section applies shall be construed as a reference to the local planning authority, and in relation to any such decision as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (4) of this section, being a decision confirming the notice in question subject to the substitution of another local authority or statutory undertakers for the local planning authority, shall be construed as including a reference to that other local authority or those statutory undertakers.