Clause 8 - Appeals procedure
High Hedges Bill
Public Bill Committees, 21 March 2001, 11:15 am
Mr John Taylor (Solihull, Conservative)
The clause allows the Secretary of State to set down in regulations the procedure for dealing with appeals made under clause 7. It contains a long list of examples of provisions that the regulations might cover, from specifying the grounds of appeal to the award of costs. As with other procedural regulations under the Bill, such as those on varying or withdrawing a remedial notice, the regulations will be subject to the negative resolution procedure in Parliament. The Government intend that there should be prior consultation on draft regulations.
I particularly draw the Committee's attention to clause 8(3), which requires the Secretary of State to appoint another person to hear and determine appeals under the Bill. The intention is to delegate all appeals to the planning inspectorate, which is accustomed to considering similar neighbourhood issues such as privacy and amenity in connection with planning appeals.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.