PART 1 Preliminary

Citation, commencement, application and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Written Representations and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2013 and come into force on 1st October 2013.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to England only.

(3) In these Regulations—

“the 1990 Act” means the Town and Country Planning Act 1990;

“building” includes any structure or erection, and any part of a building, as defined in this article, but does not include plant or machinery or any structure in the nature of plant or machinery;

“designated planning authority” means the local planning authority to which an application would otherwise have been made had the applicant not chosen to make the relevant application to the Secretary of State under section 62A of the 1990 Act( 2 );

“document” includes a photograph, map or plan;

“dwellinghouse” does not include a building containing one or more flats, or a flat contained within such a building;

“electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000( 3 );

“erection”, in relation to buildings as defined in this article, includes extension, alteration or re-erection;

“flat” means a separate and self-contained set of premises constructed or adapted for use for the purpose of a dwelling and forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally;

“floor space” means the total floor space in a building or buildings;

“inspector” means—

“interested person” means, in relation to a relevant application, a person who makes representations to the Secretary of State in relation to the application within the representation period;

“questionnaire” means, in relation to a relevant application, the questionnaire the designated planning authority must send to the Secretary of State under article 12 of the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Procedure and Consequential Amendments) Order 2013( 5 );

“recovered application” means a relevant application which falls to be determined by the Secretary of State as a consequence of a direction made under section 76E(1) of the 1990 Act( 6 );

“representation period” has the meaning given in the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Procedure and Consequential Amendments) Order 2013;

“standard application” means a relevant application which falls to be determined by a person appointed by the Secretary of State under section 76D of the 1990 Act;

“working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holiday or other public holiday; and

“written representations” includes supporting documents.

Electronic communications and service of documents

2. —(1) In these Regulations, and in relation to the use of electronic communications for any purpose of these Regulations which is capable of being carried out electronically—

(a) the expression “address” includes any number or address used for the purpose of such communications, except that where any provision of these Regulations requires any person to provide a name and address to any other person, the requirement is not fulfilled unless the person subject to the requirement provides a postal address; and

(b) references to statements, notices or other documents, or to copies of such documents, include references to such documents or copies of them in electronic form.

(2) Paragraphs (3) to (7) apply where an electronic communication is used by a person for the purpose of fulfilling any requirement in these Regulations to give or send any statement, notice or other document to any other person (“the recipient”).

(3) A requirement is taken to be fulfilled where the statement, notice or other document transmitted by the electronic communication is—

(a) capable of being accessed by the recipient;

(b) legible in all material respects; and

(c) sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.

(4) In paragraph (3), “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the statement, notice or document is available to the recipient to no lesser extent than it would be if sent or given by means of a document in printed form.

(5) Where the electronic communication is received by the recipient outside the recipient’s business hours, it is taken to have been received on the next working day.

(6) A requirement in these Regulations that any statement, notice or other document is in writing is fulfilled where the document satisfies the criteria in paragraph (3).

(7) Where a person is no longer willing to accept the use of electronic communications for any purpose of these Regulations which is capable of being effected electronically, the person must give notice in writing—

(a) withdrawing any address notified to the Secretary of State for that purpose, or

(b) revoking any agreement entered into with the Secretary of State for that purpose,

and such withdrawal or revocation is final and takes effect on a date specified by the person in the notice but not less than 7 days after the date on which the notice is given.

PART 2 Prescribed matters

Major development

3. The description of developmentprescribed under section 62A(2) of the 1990 Act as major development is any development involving one or more of the following—

(a) the provision of dwellinghouses where—

(i) the number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 10 or more; or

(ii) the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares or more and it is not known whether the development falls within sub-paragraph (a)(i);

(b) the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more;

(c) development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more.

Prescribed period for determination of procedure

4. For the purposes of section 319A(3) of the 1990 Act( 7 ) the prescribed period within which the Secretary of State must decide the procedure to be followed for the determination of a relevant application( 8 ) is 5 working days beginning with the day after the end of the representation period.

PART 3 Written representations procedure

Application

5. —(1) This Part applies where the Secretary of State has determined under section 319A of the 1990 Act that a relevant application is to be determined on the basis of representations in writing.

(2) Where this Part applies in relation to a relevant application which previously fell to be considered in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Hearings) Rules 2013, any step taken or thing done under those Rules which could have been done under any corresponding provision of these Regulations has effect as if it had been taken or done under the corresponding provision.

Determining the application: standard applications

6. —(1) This regulation applies where a relevant application is a standard application.

(2) When making his determination, the inspector—

(a) must take into account any representations made to the Secretary of State pursuant to any notice of, or information about, or consultation in relation to, the application, under articles 9, 13, 14, 16, 17 or 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Procedure and Consequential Amendments) Order 2013 which are received within the representation period; and

(b) may disregard any representations or information received after the end of the representation period.

(3) If, after the end of the representation period, the inspector takes into consideration any new information (not being a matter of government policy), he must not determine the application without first—

(a) notifying in writing the applicant and any interested person of the new information; and

(b) affording them an opportunity of making written representations to him.

Determining the application: recovered applications

7. —(1) This regulation applies where a relevant application is a recovered application.

(2) When making his determination, the Secretary of State—

(a) must take into account any representations made to the Secretary of State pursuant to any notice of, or information about, or consultation in relation to, the application, under articles 9, 13, 14, 16, 17 or 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Procedure and Consequential Amendments) Order 2013 which are received within the representation period; and

(b) may disregard any representations or information received after the end of the representation period.

(3) If, after the end of the representation period, the Secretary of State takes into consideration any new information (not being a matter of government policy), he must not determine the application without first—

(a) notifying in writing the applicant and any interested person of the new information; and

(b) affording them an opportunity of making written representations to him.