Office of Public Sector Information

171G Temporary stop notice: offences

(1) A person commits an offence if he contravenes a temporary stop notice—

(a) which has been served on him, or

(b) a copy of which has been displayed in accordance with section 171E(5).

(2) Contravention of a temporary stop notice includes causing or permitting the contravention of the notice.

(3) An offence under this section may be charged by reference to a day or a longer period of time.

(4) A person may be convicted of more than one such offence in relation to the same temporary stop notice by reference to different days or periods of time.

(5) A person does not commit an offence under this section if he proves—

(a) that the temporary stop notice was not served on him, and

(b) that he did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, of its existence.

(6) A person convicted of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £20,000;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

(7) In determining the amount of the fine the court must have regard in particular to any financial benefit which has accrued or has appeared to accrue to the person convicted in consequence of the offence.

171H Temporary stop notice: compensation

(1) This section applies if and only if a temporary stop notice is issued and at least one of the following paragraphs applies—

(a) the activity which is specified in the notice is authorised by planning permission or a development order or local development order;

(b) a certificate in respect of the activity is issued under section 191 or granted under that section by virtue of section 195;

(c) the authority withdraws the notice.

(2) Subsection (1)(a) does not apply if the planning permission is granted on or after the date on which a copy of the notice is first displayed as mentioned in section 171E(6).

(3) Subsection (1)(c) does not apply if the notice is withdrawn following the grant of planning permission as mentioned in subsection (2).

(4) A person who at the time the notice is served has an interest in the land to which the notice relates is entitled to be compensated by the local planning authority in respect of any loss or damage directly attributable to the prohibition effected by the notice.

(5) Subsections (3) to (7) of section 186 apply to compensation payable under this section as they apply to compensation payable under that section; and for that purpose references in those subsections to a stop notice must be taken to be references to a temporary stop notice.”

53 Fees and charges

(1) Section 303 (fees for planning applications, etc) of the principal Act is amended as follows.

(2) The following subsections are substituted for subsections (1) and (2)—

“(1) The appropriate authority may by regulations make provision for the payment of a charge or fee to a local planning authority in respect of—

(a) the performance by the local planning authority of any function they have;

(b) anything done by them which is calculated to facilitate or is conducive or incidental to the performance of any such function.

(2) The regulations may prescribe—

(a) the person by whom the charge or fee is payable;

(b) provision as to the calculation of the charge or fee (including the person by whom it is to be calculated);

(c) circumstances in which no charge or fee is to be paid;

(d) circumstances in which a charge or fee is to be transferred from one local planning authority to another.

(2A) The appropriate authority is—

(a) the Secretary of State in relation to England;

(b) the National Assembly for Wales in relation to Wales,

and in the case of regulations made by the National Assembly for Wales section 333(3) must be ignored.”

(3) In subsection (4) after the first “prescribed” there is inserted “charge or”.

(4) After subsection (5) there are inserted the following subsections—

“(5A) If the local planning authority calculate the amount of fees or charges in pursuance of provision made by regulations under subsection (1) the authority must secure that, taking one financial year with another, the income from the fees or charges does not exceed the cost of the performance of the function or doing of the thing (as the case may be).

(5B) A financial year is the period of 12 months beginning with 1 April.”

(5) Subsection (6) is omitted.

54 Duty to respond to consultation

(1) This section applies to a prescribed requirement to consult any person or body (the consultee) which exercises functions for the purposes of any enactment.

(2) A prescribed requirement to consult is a requirement—

(a) with which the appropriate authority or a local planning authority must comply before granting any permission, approval or consent under or by virtue of the planning Acts;

(b) which is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

(3) At any time before an application is made for any permission, approval or consent mentioned in subsection (2) any person may in relation to a proposed development consult the consultee on any matter in respect of which the appropriate authority is or the local planning authority are required to consult the consultee.

(4) The consultee must give a substantive response to any consultation mentioned in subsection (2) or by virtue of subsection (3) before the end of—

(a) the period prescribed for the purposes of this subsection, or

(b) such other period as is agreed in writing between the consultee and the appropriate authority or the local planning authority (as the case may be).

(5) The appropriate authority may also prescribe—

(a) the procedure to be followed for the purposes of this section;

(b) the information to be provided to the consultee for the purposes of the consultation;

(c) the requirements of a substantive response.

(6) Anything prescribed for the purposes of subsections (1) to (5) must be prescribed by development order.

(7) A development order may—

(a) require consultees to give the appropriate authority a report as to their compliance with subsection (4);

(b) prescribe the form and content of the report;

(c) prescribe the times at which the report is to be made.

(8) The appropriate authority is—

(a) the Secretary of State in relation to England;

(b) the National Assembly for Wales in relation to Wales.

55 Time in which Secretary of State to take decisions

(1) Schedule 2 contains provisions about the time in which the Secretary of State must take certain decisions.

(2) But Schedule 2 does not apply in relation to any decision taken in the exercise of a function in relation to Wales if the function is exercisable in relation to Wales by the National Assembly for Wales by virtue of an order under section 22 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38).