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Advice to Welsh Government

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Enquiry

From
Welsh Government
Date advice given
4 July 2018
Enquiry type
Email

have a query relating to section 92 of the 2008 Act which I wondered if you could help with.

92(2) states: “The Examining authority must fix, and cause each affected person to be informed of, the deadline by which an affected person must notify the [Secretary of State] that the person wishes a compulsory acquisition hearing to be held.”

Do you know what timescale is given for persons to notify the SoS they wish a compulsory acquisition hearing to be held?

I can’t see that it is prescribed anywhere in secondary legislation.

Advice given

In a nutshell, there are no set timescales in the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 for affected persons to request a Compulsory Acquisition (CA) hearing; it is a deadline for the appointed Examining Authority to set on each case. This is explained in Rule 6(3) of the Rules:

Where the Examining authority holds any other meeting for the purposes of the examination to which these Rules apply, it shall arrange for such notice to be given of that meeting as appears to the authority to be necessary.

As you will be aware, the ExA will issue its Rule 6 letter inviting parties to attend the Preliminary Meeting (PM). This letter will also set a draft timetable for the examination of the application, which is discussed at the PM. The timetable will include a deadline for requests for CA hearings.

Following the Preliminary Meeting the ExA will then issue the Rule 8 letter which confirms the timetable for the examination. This will include a deadline for requests for CA hearings, in line with Rule 8(1)(g), which specifies:

the date by which any affected person must notify the Examining authority of their wish to be heard at a compulsory acquisition hearing.

Rule 13(1) specifies that the ExA must allow at least a 21 day deadline for submitting requests for a CA hearing:

In fixing, and causing persons to be informed of, a deadline under section 92(2) (compulsory acquisition hearing) or 93(1) (open-floor hearing), the Examining authority must ensure that the deadline is at least 21 days after the date on which notice of the deadline is given.

It’s also worth noting Rule 13(2) which specifies:

The Examining authority may disregard any request for an open-floor hearing or for a compulsory acquisition hearing to be held which is received after the deadline.