The Transport and Works (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 2004

Made: 25th July 2004

Laid before Parliament: 28th July 2004

Coming into force: 23rd August 2004

The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 9 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992 [^f00001], and after consultation with the Council on Tribunals, hereby makes the following Rules:

Citation and commencement

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These Rules may be cited as the Transport and Works (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 2004 and shall come into force on 23rd August 2004.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Rules references to sections are references to sections of the Transport and Works Act 1992 [^f00002], and—

• “address” includes any number or address used for the purposes of electronic transmission;

• “applicant” means any person who has submitted an application to the Secretary of State in accordance with rules made under section 6; or, in the case where the Secretary of State has made a proposal for an order under section 7, the Secretary of State;

• “application” means an application under section 6 for an order under section 1 or 3 or the publication of a notice by the Secretary of State of a proposal to make such an order by virtue of section 7;

• “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;

• “by local advertisement” means, in relation to the publication of a notice, by publication of the notice in at least one newspaper circulating in the locality, or each of the localities, in which the land to which an application relates is situated;

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

• “electronic transmission” means a communication transmitted— by means of an electronic communications network; or by other means but while in electronic form;

• “inquiry” means a public local inquiry to which these Rules apply by virtue of rule 3;

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

• “mediator” means a person appearing to the Secretary of State to have been trained in mediation techniques by an independent mediation organisation and who is appointed by the Secretary of State to undertake mediation under rule 12;

• “official body” means a Minister of the Crown or a government department;

• “official case” means a written statement by an official body setting out full particulars of its evidence in regard to an application;

• “official representation” means a written objection or representation made by an official body in regard to an application;

• “order” means an order under section 1 or 3;

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

• “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 more than one such meeting is held references to the conclusion of the pre-inquiry meeting are references to the conclusion of the final meeting;

• “registration form” means a form for completion by interested parties who wish to participate in an inquiry to which rule 6 applies;

• “relevant notice” means the Secretary of State’s written notice under rule 4 that an inquiry is to be held;

• “starting date” means the date of the relevant notice;

• “statement of case” means a written statement containing full particulars of the case which a person proposes to put forward at an inquiry (including, where that person is the applicant, the reasons for submitting the application), together with 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 applicant and any other party who wishes to participate in the inquiry, which contains factual information agreed between those persons about any proposal which is the subject of the application in question;

• “statement of matters” means a statement by the Secretary of State of the matters about which he particularly wishes to be informed for the purposes of his consideration of the order in question;

• “statutory body” means a body, not being an official body, which has been given by a public general Act functions relevant to the subject matter of the application;

• “statutory objector” means a person within section 11(4);

• “technical adviser” means a person appearing to the Secretary of State to have such qualifications and experience as are sufficient to enable him to conduct an expert assessment of scientific or technical evidence to be given to the inquiry and who is appointed by the Secretary of State for that purpose under rule 11.

• (2) Where the Secretary of State is the applicant these Rules shall be construed so as not to require that—

• (a) the Secretary of State shall serve a document upon himself, or

• (b) he shall consult or agree with himself upon any matter, or

• (c) any other person shall serve a document upon the Secretary of State more than once.

Application of Rules

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• (1) These Rules shall apply in relation to any inquiry which is caused to be held pursuant to section 11—

• (a) by the National Assembly for Wales[^f00003] for the purposes of an application relating solely to Wales; or

• (b) by the Secretary of State for the purposes of all other applications relating to England and Wales.

• (2) In these Rules, references to the Secretary of State shall mean the National Assembly for Wales where an inquiry is to be held in relation to an application made to that Assembly.

Preliminary action to be taken by the Secretary of State

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• (1) Where the Secretary of State intends to cause an inquiry to be held, he shall, not later than 4 weeks after the date specified in paragraph (2), give written notice of that intention to the applicant, to each statutory objector, to any statutory body which has submitted an objection (unless such objection has been withdrawn) and to any official body which has made an official representation.

• (2) The date referred to in paragraph (1) is—

• (a) in the case of an application to which section 9 applies, the date on which each House of Parliament passes a resolution under section 9(4) (or, if there are two such dates, the later of them); and

• (b) in every other case, the date of expiry of the period within which an objection to the application may be made.

Preliminary action to be taken by official bodies

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Where an official body has made an official representation it shall (unless it has already done so) serve upon the Secretary of State, the applicant and any statutory objector an official case within 6 weeks of the starting date.

Special procedure for major inquiries where Secretary of State causes a pre-inquiry meeting to be held

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• (1) The Secretary of State may cause a pre-inquiry meeting to be held where it appears to him that this would be desirable because of the extent of interest in the inquiry and where he does so this rule applies.

• (2) The Secretary of State shall serve with the relevant notice a notification of his intention to cause a pre-inquiry meeting to be held, a statement of matters and a registration form, which form shall include the address to which, and date by which, completed forms are to be returned and which shall request the following information—

• (a) the name, address and telephone number of the person registering;

• (b) the name, address and telephone number of any agent, or, in the case of an organisation, of the contact person;

• (c) whether or not the person registering has an interest in any land which will be affected by the application;

• (d) whether or not the person or organisation registering is likely to want to be represented formally and to play a major part in the inquiry;

• (e) if not, whether or not the person registering will wish to give oral evidence at the inquiry or will wish only to submit representations in writing.

• (3) The applicant shall, not later than 3 weeks after the starting date, publish by local advertisement a notice of the Secretary of State’s intention to cause a pre-inquiry meeting to be held.

• (4) The notice published pursuant to paragraph (3) shall include the text of the statement of matters and shall state that persons interested in participating in the inquiry should obtain from the Secretary of State a copy of the registration form.

• (5) The applicant shall, not later than 8 weeks after the starting date, serve on the Secretary of State and on each statutory objector an outline statement.

• (6) The applicant shall include in the outline statement the text of any official case supplied under rule 5 upon which he wishes to rely, and shall, not later than 8 weeks after the starting date, serve a copy of that statement on the official body concerned.

• (7) When required to do so by notice in writing from the Secretary of State—

• (a) any statutory objector; and

• (b) any other person who has notified him of any intention or wish to appear at the inquiry,

shall within 8 weeks from the date of such notice serve upon the Secretary of State, on the applicant and on any other person specified in such notice, an outline statement.

• (8) The pre-inquiry meeting (or, where there is more than one, the first pre-inquiry meeting) shall be held not later than 16 weeks after the starting date.

• (9) The Secretary of State shall give not less than 3 weeks' written notice of the date, time and location of the pre-inquiry meeting to the applicant, each statutory objector and any other person whose presence at the pre-inquiry meeting seems to him to be desirable.

• (10) The Secretary of State may require the applicant to take, in relation to notification of the pre-inquiry meeting, one or more of the steps mentioned in rule 13(6).

• (11) The inspector shall preside at the pre-inquiry meeting and shall determine the matters to be discussed and the procedure to be followed; and he may require any person present at the pre-inquiry meeting who, in his opinion, is behaving in a disruptive manner to leave and may refuse to permit that person to return or to attend any further pre-inquiry meeting, or may permit him to return or attend only on such conditions as he may specify.

• (12) The inspector may at any time hold such other meetings (including pre-inquiry meetings) as he considers necessary for the efficient and expeditious conduct of the inquiry and he shall arrange for such notice to be given of such meetings as appears to him necessary; and paragraph (11) shall apply to such meetings.

Service of statements of case, etc

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• (1) The applicant shall not later than—

• (a) 6 weeks after the starting date; or

• (b) where a pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 6, 4 weeks after the conclusion of that meeting,

serve a statement of case on the Secretary of State and on each statutory objector and each person who is required to serve a statement of case under paragraph (3).

• (2) In addition to the statement of case served under paragraph (1), the applicant shall serve—

• (a) upon the Secretary of State a copy of every document or the relevant part of any document which he intends to refer to or put in evidence and of the notice mentioned in sub-paragraph (b), and

• (b) upon each statutory objector and each person who is required to serve a statement of case under paragraph (3) a notice giving the names of all places, within each area in which the proposals contained in the application are to have effect (or as close as reasonably possible to any such area), where a copy of every document or the relevant part of any document which the applicant intends to refer to or put in evidence may be inspected free of charge at all reasonable hours until the date of commencement of the inquiry.

• (3) When required by notice in writing from the Secretary of State to do so—

• (a) a statutory objector; or

• (b) any other person who has notified him of an intention or wish to appear at the inquiry,

shall within 6 weeks from the date of such notice or, where a pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 6, no later than 4 weeks after the conclusion of that meeting, serve a statement of case on the Secretary of State, on the applicant and on any other person specified in such notice and the Secretary of State shall notify the applicant forthwith of the name and address of each person required to serve a statement of case.

• (4) In addition to the statement of case served under paragraph (3), every person mentioned in paragraph (3)(a) and (b) shall serve upon the Secretary of State and the applicant a copy of every document or the relevant part of any document which such person intends to refer to or put in evidence unless copies of the document or part of the document are available for inspection pursuant to paragraph (9).

• (5) Any person who has served a statement of case in accordance with this rule shall—

• (a) when required by notice in writing from the Secretary of State or the inspector provide such further information about the matters contained in the statement as the Secretary of State or the inspector may specify; and

• (b) at the same time send a copy of such further information to any other person on whom the statement of case has been served.

• (6) Unless a statement of matters has already been served pursuant to rule 6(2), the Secretary of State shall, within 12 weeks from the starting date, serve such a statement on the applicant, each statutory objector and any person from whom he has required a statement of case.

• (7) The Secretary of State may amend a statement of matters served under paragraph (6) or rule 6(2) at any time up to 6 weeks before the commencement of the inquiry.

• (8) Any person who has served a statement of case in accordance with this rule and who wishes to comment on another person’s statement of case shall, not later than 6 weeks before the date fixed for the commencement of the inquiry, send further comments in writing to the Secretary of State, the applicant and the person whose statement of case is the subject of the comment if that person is not the applicant.

• (9) The applicant shall afford to any person who so requests a reasonable opportunity to inspect and, where practicable and subject to payment by that person of a reasonable charge, take copies of any statement or document which, or a copy of which, has been served on or by him in accordance with any of the preceding paragraphs of this rule; and shall specify in his statement of case the time and place at which the opportunity will be afforded.

Further power of inspector to hold pre-inquiry meetings

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• (1) Where no pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 6, the inspector may hold one if he thinks it desirable.

• (2) The inspector shall arrange for not less than 2 weeks' written notice of a meeting pursuant to paragraph (1) to be given to the applicant, each statutory objector, any other person known at the date of the notice to be entitled to appear at the inquiry, and any other person whose presence at the meeting appears to him to be desirable.

• (3) Rule 6(11) shall apply to a meeting held under this rule.

Inquiry timetable

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• (1) Where a pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 6, the inspector shall at that meeting—

• (a) propose a timetable for the proceedings at, or at part of, the inquiry, and

• (b) specify the date by which any proof of evidence and summary sent in accordance with rule 16(1) shall be received by him,

and shall arrange for written notice to be given of the date so specified to every person entitled to appear at the inquiry.

• (2) The inspector shall arrange—

• (a) after the conclusion of a pre-inquiry meeting held pursuant to rule 6 for a copy of the timetable for the proceedings to be sent to the Secretary of State for approval; and

• (b) following such approval for a copy of the timetable for the proceedings to be sent to every person entitled to appear at the inquiry.

• (3) The inspector may subsequently vary the timetable mentioned in paragraph (2) but he shall not do so before the start of the inquiry without the approval of the Secretary of State.

• (4) Where a pre-inquiry meeting is held pursuant to rule 8 the inspector may arrange a timetable for the proceedings at, or at part of, the inquiry and may at any time vary the timetable.

• (5) An inspector may specify in a timetable arranged under paragraph (4) a date by which any proof of evidence and summary required by rule 16(1) to be sent to him shall be so sent.

Notification of appointment of assessor

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• (1) Where the Secretary of State appoints an assessor, he shall notify the persons specified in rule 14(1) of the assessor’s name and of the matters on which he is to advise the inspector.

Appointment of technical adviser

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• (1) This rule applies where the Secretary of State has caused a pre-inquiry meeting to be held in pursuance of rule 6.

• (2) If it appears to the Secretary of State that evidence to be given to the inquiry is, or is likely to be, of such a technical or scientific nature that the inquiry would be conducted more efficiently and expeditiously if an expert assessment of that evidence were to be made, he may at any time appoint a technical adviser for that purpose.

• (3) Where the Secretary of State appoints a technical adviser he may in writing require the applicant to publish by local advertisement and within such period as he may specify a notice stating the name of the person so appointed and specifying the evidence to be assessed.