The Town and Country Planning (Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 2008

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations make provision in connection with appeals to the Scottish Ministers under sections 47, 130, 154, 169 and 180 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (c. 8) (“the Act”) and in relation to the procedure for dealing with applications called-in for determination by the Scottish Ministers by virtue of a direction under section 46 of the Act. These Regulations apply to appeals where the notice of appeal is given on or after 3rd August 2009.

The Regulations primarily make provision in relation to the conduct of appeals under section 47 of the Act to be determined by a person appointed for that purpose under Schedule 4 to the Act. Such appeals along with appeals to be determined by an appointed person under sections 103, 154, 169 and 180 are defined in regulation 2 as “delegated appeals”. The prescribed classes of appeals which are to be determined by an appointed person are specified in the Town and Country Planning (Determination of Appeals by Appointed Persons) (Prescribed Classes) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 ( S.I. 1987/1531 ). Those Regulations also set out classes of appeal which are reserved for determination by the Scottish Ministers. Appeals falling within that class or within a class specified in directions made under paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 4 to the Act are, together with those appeals which are recalled for determination by virtue of powers contained in paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 4 to the Act, defined as non-delegated appeals.

The Regulations apply to appeals other than delegated appeals under section 47 in accordance with the terms of regulation 1(3) and apply to the handling of called in applications in terms of regulation 1(4).

Part 2 of the Regulations makes provision in relation to the time period within which and how an appeal under section 47 must be made. Regulation 3 sets out the requirements for the form and content of the notice of review and the documents which must accompany such notice. Regulation 3(2) requires the notice of appeal to be given to the Scottish Ministers within three months of the date of the planning authority’s decision or of expiry of the period within the application should have been determined. This period is defined in regulation 2 by reference to the period within which an application is to be determined in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 ( S.S.I. 2008/ ). The three month period within which an appeal can be made replaces the current period of six months. Regulation 4 requires the notice of appeal to be given to the planning authority and makes provision for the planning authority to respond to the notice and for the appellant to make comments on such response. Regulation 5 makes provision for notification and publication of the appeal and gives interested parties an opportunity to make representations on the case to the Scottish Ministers. The appellant is given the right to respond to any such representations. Regulation 6 requires the planning authority to make the documents relating to the appeal available for inspection and, where practicable, to allow copies to be made of such documents.

Part 3 of the Regulations relates to the process of determination of the appeal. Where the appointed person consider that no further information is required to enable the case to be determined the appointed person may, under regulation 7, do so without any further procedure. The appointed person is not required to determine the case without further procedure and may under regulation 8 seek further information or representations by means of further procedure. The procedures available are those described in regulation 8(4). The procedures to be followed are, in terms of regulation 8(5), further written submission in accordance with regulation 10, a hearing session held under the Hearing Session Rules in Schedule 1, an inquiry session held under the Inquiry Session Rules in Schedule 2 and a site visit in accordance with regulation 11. Regulation 9 makes provision for the holding of pre-examination meetings to consider how the appeal may be conducted.

Regulation 12 requires the appointed person to afford the appellant and other parties a further opportunity to make representations in respect of any new and material evidence which the appointed person proposes to take into account in determining the appeal.

Part 4 makes provision relating to how an appeal under sections 130, 169 and 180 of the Act is made. Regulation 13 specifies information which must be included in a statement of appeal under sections 130(3)(a) in respect of appeals made under section 130 of the Act, 169(3) in respect of appeals made under section 168 and also in respect of appeals made under section 180 under section 130(3)(a) as applied by section 180(3). Regulation 14 requires the appellant to give a copy of the notice of appeal and supporting documents to the planning authority when making an appeal and allows the planning authority to respond to the appeal and the appellant to make comments on their response. Regulation 15 provides for the notification to be given to other parties on whom a notice which is the subject of the appeal was served and allows such persons to make representations.

Part 5 of the Regulations makes provision relating to how an appeal under sections 154 of the Act is made. Regulation 16(2) prescribes the period within which a notice of appeal must be served. Regulation 16(3) applies specified provisions of the Regulations to appeals under section 154 as those provisions apply to an appeal under section 47.