The West Midlands Rail Freight Interchange Order 2020

Appeals U.K.

45.—(1) The undertaker may appeal in the event that—

(a) the discharging authority refuses an application for any consent, agreement or approval required or contemplated under the requirements or grants it subject to conditions;

(b) the discharging authority does not give notice of its decision to the undertaker within the decision period specified in paragraph 43;

(c) on receipt of a request for further information under paragraph 44 the undertaker considers that either the whole or part of the specified information requested by the discharging authority is not necessary for consideration of the application; or

(d) on receipt of any further information requested, the discharging authority notifies the undertaker that the information provided is inadequate and requests additional information which the undertaker considers is not necessary for consideration of the application.

(2) The appeal process is as follows—

(a) any appeal by the undertaker must be made within 42 days of the date of the notice of the decision or determination, or (where no determination has been made) expiry of the decision period as determined under paragraph 43;

(b) the undertaker must submit the appeal documentation to the Secretary of State and must within 7 working days provide copies of the appeal documentation to the discharging authority and the requirement consultees;

(c) as soon as is practicable after receiving the appeal documentation, the Secretary of State must appoint a person to determine the appeal (“the appointed person”) M1 and must notify the appeal parties of the identity of the appointed person and the address to which all correspondence for that person's attention should be sent;

(d) the discharging authority and the requirement consultees must submit written representations to the appointed person in respect of the appeal within 20 working days of the date on which the appeal parties are notified of the appointment of a person under paragraph (c) and must ensure that copies of their written representations are sent to each other and to the undertaker on the day on which they are submitted to the appointed person;

(e) the appeal parties must make any counter-submissions to the appointed person within 20 working days of receipt of written representations under paragraph (d).

(3) The appointed person must make a decision and notify it to the appeal parties, with reasons, within 20 working days of expiry of the 20-working day period referred to in sub-paragraph (2)(e) or, if applicable, within 20 working days of the expiry of the 10-working day period referred to in sub-paragraph (6).

(4) The appointment of the person pursuant to sub-paragraph (2)(c) may be undertaken by a person appointed by the Secretary of State for this purpose instead of by the Secretary of State.

(5) If the appointed person considers that further information is necessary to enable consideration of the appeal the appointed person must, as soon as practicable, notify the appeal parties in writing specifying the further information required, the appeal party from whom the information is sought, and the date by which the information is to be submitted.

(6) Any further information required under sub-paragraph (5) is to be provided by the party from whom the information is sought to the appointed person and to other appeal parties by the date specified by the appointed person. Any written representations concerning matters contained in the further information must be submitted to the appointed person, and made available to all appeal parties within 10 working days of that date.

(7) On an appeal under this paragraph, the appointed person must—

(a) allow or dismiss the appeal; or

(b) reverse or vary any part of the decision of the discharging authority (whether the appeal relates to that part of it or not),

and may deal with the application as if it had been made to the appointed person in the first instance.

(8) The appointed person must proceed to a decision on an appeal taking into account only such written representations as have been sent within the prescribed time limits, or other time limits set by the appointed person under this sub-paragraph.

(9) The appointed person must proceed to a decision even though no written representations have been made within the prescribed time limits, or any other time limit set in accordance with sub-paragraph (9).

(10) The decision of the appointed person on an appeal is to be final and binding on the appeal parties, and a court may entertain proceedings for questioning the decision only if the proceedings are brought by a claim for judicial review.

(11) If an approval is given by the appointed person under this Part of this Schedule, it is deemed to be an approval for the purpose of any consent, agreement or approval required under the requirement as if it had been given by the discharging authority. The discharging authority may confirm any determination given by the appointed person in identical form in writing but a failure to give such confirmation (or a failure to give it in identical form) is not to be taken to affect or invalidate the effect of the appointed person's determination.

(12) Except where a direction is given under sub-paragraph (13) requiring the costs of the appointed person to be paid by the discharging authority, the reasonable costs of the appointed person are to be met by the undertaker M2 .

(13) On application by the discharging authority or the undertaker, the appointed person may give directions as to the costs of the appeal parties and as to the parties by whom the costs of the appeal are to be paid. In considering whether to make any such direction and the terms on which it is to be made, the appointed person must have regard to the Planning Practice Guidance published by the Department for Communities and Local Government on 6th March 2014 or any circular or guidance which may from time to time replace it.

Marginal Citations

M1 The appointment is made at the discretion of the Secretary of State, and such appointment may be made by the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State.

M2 The costs of the appointed person are calculated based on the applicable day rate for a Single Inspector as if he or she were appointed under s78/ s79 of the PA2008. See the National Infrastructure Planning website for more information: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/application-fees/