In these Rules—

• “assessor” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State to sit with an inspector at an inquiry or re-opened inquiry to advise the inspector on such matters arising as the Secretary of State may specify;

• “certificate of lawful use or development” means a certificate under section 191 or 192 of the Planning Act;

• “document” includes a photograph, map or plan;

• “enforcement appeal” means an appeal against an enforcement notice;

• “enforcement notice” means a notice under section 172 of the Planning Act or under section 38 of the Listed Buildings Act;

• “inquiry” means a local inquiry to which these Rules apply;

• “inspector” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State to hold the relevant inquiry or re-opened inquiry;

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

• “Listed Buildings Act” means the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 19902;

• “local planning authority” means in relation to—

  1. a

     an enforcement appeal, the body who issued the relevant enforcement notice;

  2. b

     an appeal against the refusal or non-determination of an application for a certificate of lawful use or development, the body to whom the application was made;

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

• “Planning Act” means the Town and Country Planning Act 19903;

• “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;

• “questionnaire” means a document in the form supplied by the Secretary of State to local planning authorities for the purpose of proceedings under these Rules;

• “relevant notice” means the Secretary of State’s written notice under rule 4(1) informing the appellant and the local planning authority that an inquiry is to be held;

• “starting date” means the date of the—

  1. a

     Secretary of State’s written notice to the appellant and the local planning authority that he has received all the documents required to enable him to entertain the appeal pursuant to regulation 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Enforcement Notices and Appeals) (England) Regulations 20024; or

  2. b

     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 local planning authority and the appellant, which contains agreed factual information about the development, breach of conditions or works which are the subject of the appeal.