PART III General Planning Control

Secretary of State's powers in relation to planning applications and decisions

36 Appeals against planning decisions
(1) Where an application is made to a local planning authority for planning permission to develop land, or for any approval of that authority required under a development order, and that permission or approval is refused by that authority or is granted by them subject to conditions, the applicant, if he is aggrieved by their decision, may by notice under this section appeal to the Secretary of State.
(2) Any notice under this section shall be served within such time (not being less than twenty-eight days from the date of notification of the decision to which it relates) and in such manner as may be prescribed by a development order.
(3) Where an appeal is brought under this section from a decision of a local planning authority, the Secretary of State, subject to the following provisions of this section, may allow or dismiss the appeal, or may reverse or vary any part of the decision of the local planning authority, whether the appeal relates to that part thereof or not, and may deal with the application as if it had been made to him in the first instance.
(4) Before determining an appeal under this section, other than an appeal referred to a Planning Inquiry Commission under section 48 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall, if either the applicant or the local planning authority so desire, afford to each of them an opportunity of appearing before, and being heard by, a person appointed by the Secretary of State for the purpose.
(5) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, the following provisions of this Act, that is to say, sections 27, 29(1) and (3) and 30(1) shall apply, with any necessary modifications, in relation to an appeal to the Secretary of State under this section as they apply in relation to an application for planning permission which falls to be determined by the local planning authority.
(6) The decision of the Secretary of State on any appeal under this section shall be final.
(7) If before or during the determination of an appeal under this section in respect of an application for planning permission to develop land, the Secretary of State forms the opinion that, having regard to the provisions of sections 29(1), 30(1), 67 and 74 of this Act and of the development order and to any directions given under that order, planning permission for that development—
(a) could not have been granted by the local planning authority; or
(b) could not have been granted by them otherwise than subject to the conditions imposed by them,
he may decline to determine the appeal or to proceed with the determination.
(8) Schedule 9 to this Act applies to appeals under this section, including appeals under this section as applied by or under any other provision of this Act.