The Planning (Inquiry Procedure) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2006

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Rules—

“application” means an application as described in Article 123B (1) of the 1991 Order and the “applicant” is the person making such an application;

“appointed representative” means a person appointed under Article 123A (4) or (5) of the 1991 Order;

“certificate” means a certificate issued by the Secretary of State under Article 123B of the 1991 Order;

“closed evidence” means evidence which is subject to a direction;

“direction” means a direction given by the Secretary of State under Article 123A (2) of the 1991 Order;

“document” includes a photograph, map or plan;

“electronic communication” means a communication transmitted (whether from one person to another, from one device to another or from a person to a device or vice versa)—

(a)

by means of a telecommunication system (within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12)); or

(b)

by other means but while in an electronic form;

“inquiry” means a public local inquiry in relation to which these Rules apply;

“inspector” means a person appointed by the Department to hold an inquiry;

“land” means the land or building to which an inquiry relates;

“open evidence” means evidence which is not closed evidence;

“outline statement” means a written statement of the principal submissions which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry;

“pre-inquiry meeting” means a meeting held before an inquiry to consider what may be done with a view to securing that the inquiry is conducted efficiently and expeditiously, and where two or more such meetings are held references to the conclusion of a pre-inquiry meeting are references to the conclusion of the final meeting;

“relevant notice” means the Department’s written notice informing the applicant that an inquiry is to be held;

“starting date” means the date of—

(a)

the Department’s written notice to the applicant that it has received all the documents required to enable it to entertain the application; or

(b)

the relevant notice,

whichever is the later;

“statement of case” means, and is comprised of, a written statement which contains full particulars of the case which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry and a list of any documents which that person intends to refer to or put in evidence;

“statement of common ground” means a written statement prepared jointly by the Department and the applicant, or the appointed representative and the applicant, which contains agreed factual information about the proposal, which is the subject of the application;

“statutory party” means—

(a)

a person mentioned in Article 25(3) of the 1991 Order; and

(b)

a party mentioned in Article 15 of the Planning (General Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 1993(1)

whose representations the Department is required to take into account before determining the application to which an inquiry relates;

“the Department” means the Department of the Environment;

“the 1991 Order” means the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.

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

(a) the expression “address” includes any number or address used for the purposes of such communications, except that where these Rules impose an obligation on any person to provide a name and address to any other person, the obligation shall not be fulfilled unless the person on whom it is imposed provides a postal address;

(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.

(3) Paragraphs (4) to (8) apply where an electronic communication is used by a person for the purpose of fulfilling any requirement in these Rules to serve, give or send any statement, notice or other document to any other person (“the recipient”).

(4) The requirement shall be taken to be fulfilled where the statement, notice or other document transmitted by means of 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.

(5) In paragraph (4) “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 served, sent or given by means of a document in printed form.

(6) Where the electronic communication is received by the recipient outside the recipient’s business hours, it shall be taken to have been received on the next working day; and for this purpose “working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.

(7) A requirement in these Rules that any document should be in writing is fulfilled where that document meets the criteria in paragraph (4).

(8) A requirement in these Rules to send more than one copy of a statement, notice or other document may be complied with by sending one copy only of the statement, notice or other document in question.

(1)

S.R. 1993 No. 278 as amended by S.R. 2000 No. 101