HC Deb 11 July 1957 vol 573 cc583-4

1. In the case of an application for the consent or authorisation of the Minister under paragraph (b) of section ten of the Schedule of 1899, where in accordance with any of the provisions of section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act a public inquiry is to be held, and the application relates to land in the areas of two or more local planning authorities,—

  1. (a) the application shall not be the subject of a public inquiry in so far as it relates to land in the area of a local planning authority who have not notified the Minister that they object to the application, unless the Minister otherwise directs having regard to objections by other persons of which he has notice;
  2. (b) in so far as the application is to be the subject of a public inquiry in relation to land in the areas of two or more local planning authorities, the Minister may direct that separate public inquiries shall be held in the area of each of those authorities;
and, where the Minister gives any such directions, the provisions of the said section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) shall apply with the necessary modifications:

Provided that for the purposes of sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph a local planning authority who have notified the Minister that they object to the application shall be treated as not having done so if the Minister proposes 'to accede to the application subject to such modifications or conditions as will give effect to the objection

2. Subsection (2) of section sixty-six of the principal Act (which relates to inquiries under that Act) shall apply in relation to inquiries held in pursuance of section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act as it applies in relation to inquiries held in pursuance of the said section sixty-six.

3. For the purposes of section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act the Minister may make regulations limiting the time within which notification of objections may be made to the Minister by local planning authorities, and providing that objections which are not notified within the time so limited may be disregarded for those purposes.

4. Any power to make regulations under section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act, or under this Schedule, shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and any instrument containing such regulations shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament; and different provision may be made by any such regulations in relation to different classes of applications or otherwise in relation to different classes of cases.

5. Where any regulations made under section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act, or under this Schedule, are for the time being in force, any rules made under section thirty-four of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, in so far as they relate to applications to which the regulations apply, shall have effect subject to those regulations.

6. In the application of this Schedule to Scotland, for any reference to the Minister there shall be substituted a reference to the Secretary of State.

7. In this Schedule "local planning authority" has the same meaning as in section (Special provisions as to public inquiries) of this Act.—[Mr. Maudling.]