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Advice to Angus Walker

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Enquiry

From
Angus Walker
Date advice given
21 December 2011
Enquiry type
Email

Query regarding Bob Neill's letter of 28 November about proposed changes to applications after submission to the IPC

Advice given

Thank you for your email of 13 December regarding Bob Neill's letter of 28 November about proposed changes to applications after submission to the IPC. I have also read your blog entry of 14 December on the same subject.

The IPC has of course taken careful note of the Minister's letter, placed it on our website and drawn it to the attention of Commissioners and staff. Our advice to applicants who may wish to consider proposing changes in their applications after they have been submitted is that they should submit proposed changes at the earliest possible stage of the examination. This will give the Examining Authority the opportunity to consider their proposals at an early stage and if possible avoid any delay to the statutory timetable. Bob Neill's letter sets out reasons why he considers it would not be helpful to make regulations specifying a process to ensure any decision to accept material changes had been taken lawfully, principally because each set of circumstances could vary considerably. It would be more appropriate to consider in each case whether the principles of natural justice and principles arising from the Wheatcroft case had been addressed.

In view of the imminent abolition of the Commission, our judgement is that this is not the moment to develop and introduce IPC guidance or generic advice to assist applicants by suggesting steps that they might follow to meet the legal tests that would be applied to any decision whether to accept material changes to an application. We welcome views on possible approaches to addressing this matter, or suggestions for generic advice that you consider would be helpful, once the Localism Act has been brought into force. I consider in any event it would be important for an applicant to seek their own legal advice on applying to their own factual circumstances the principles in case law and to ensure their actions were in accordance with natural justice.

Regards

Ian Gambles