<p>Planning Inspectors act on behalf of the Secretary of State to assess whether a Local Plan is suitably thought through, and whether it satisfies the statutory requirements, following a transparent and rigorous public examination process. The inspector is responsible for making recommendations to the local planning authority.</p><p>The decision whether to adopt a Local Plan is made by the local planning authority. They may choose to withdraw a Local Plan after considering the inspector’s report.</p><p>While there is no formal mechanism to appeal against the recommendations in an inspector’s report, the adopted Local Plan could be challenged in the High Court on a point of law.</p><p>The Secretary of State also has powers to intervene in the Local Plan process if he thinks that a local development document is unsatisfactory. However, wherever possible, Government wants to allow local planning authorities to decide on whether to adopt a plan, without interference from central Government.</p>