The Planning Minister, Nick Raynsford announced last week a number of changes to the rules and guidance for planning appeals in England.
The Rules are the Government's latest response to complaints about delay and slackness inherent in the procedure for appeals.
The new measures are welcome. The main changes are:
1. Periods for the exchange of Statements of Case and evidence have been tightened up.
2. Encouragement to the parties to define the issues by:
- requiring an agreed 'Statement of Common Ground' to be submitted to the Secretary of State before the appeal is heard;
- more use of pre-inquiry meetings as an opportunity for the Inspector to define the issues.
3. The Local Planning Authority is now required to present its case first. This may encourage planning authorities to rigorously assess their case in advance of the inquiry.
Unfortunately, once again there is no sanction for failure to comply with these rules, apart from the fairly remote possibility of award of costs at the end of the inquiry. Nevertheless the new Rules should encourage Inspectors to keep pressure on the parties, especially during the run-up to the appeal hearing or inquiry.
Regrettably, in the case of appeals which are called-in by, or referred to the Secretary of State, any efficiencies which the Inspector can expect to achieve are usually dwarfed by the enormous length of time it takes the Secretary of State to make a decision.
At the same time the Secretary of State has amended the General Development Order to require Local Planning Authorities to give reasons for the refusal of planning applications.
If you have any questions about the issues in this e-mail, please contact Tony Kitson at tony.kitson@cms-cmck.com or on +44 (0)20 7367 3556.
