The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1997

Amendments to the 1988 Regulations

24.  After regulation 15 insert–

“Enforcement appeal received by the Secretary of State without environmental statement

15A.— (1) Where on consideration of an enforcement appeal the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the matters which are alleged to constitute the breach of planning control comprise or include unauthorised development, or a reporter so considers, but the documents submitted for the purposes of the appeal do not include an environmental statement, the Secretary of State may, subject to paragraph (2), within 4 weeks beginning with the date on which he received the appeal, or such longer period as he may reasonably require, direct giving his reasons that consideration of environmental information in respect of the development is required before planning permission could be granted for the development, and notify the appellant —

(a) of his direction;

(b) of the requirements of paragraph (3) below;

(c) that the planning authority is a body required under regulation 23 to provide the appellant with any relevant information in their possession; and

(d) that the appellant must supply the authorities, bodies or persons mentioned in Schedule 4 and the planning authority with such further information about the development as they may request.

(2) Notice need not be given under paragraph (1) where the appellant has submitted an environmental statement to the Secretary of State for the purposes of an appeal under section 47 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 which–

(a) relates to the development to which the appeal under section 130 of that Act relates; and

(b) is to be determined at the same time as that appeal;

and that statement and the representations (if any) made in relation to any part of it shall be treated as the environmental information for the purposes of regulation 6.

(3) The requirements of this paragraph are that the appellant shall, within the period specified in the notice or such longer period as the Secretary of State may by notice in writing to the appellant allow, submit to the Secretary of State four copies of an environmental statement relating to the unauthorised development in question and enough additional copies of the environmental statement or parts thereof to enable him to send one to each of the other authorities, bodies or persons mentioned in Schedule 4.

(4) Where the Secretary of State makes a direction in accordance with paragraph (1), he shall inform the planning authority and the other authorities, bodies or persons mentioned in Schedule 4 of the requirement for an environmental statement and that they may be required to make available to the appellant, in accordance with regulation 23, any information in their possession which they or the appellant consider relevant to the preparation of the environmental statement.

(5) If an appellant to whom notice has been given under paragraph (1) fails to comply with the requirements of paragraph (3) the deemed application and the ground (a) appeal (if any) shall lapse at the end of the period specified or allowed (as the case may be).

(6) As soon as reasonably practicable after the occurrence of the event mentioned in paragraph (5), the Secretary of State shall notify the appellant and the planning authority in writing that the deemed application and the ground (a) appeal (if any) have lapsed.”.