Costs - Circular 23/93 (Welsh Office)

Award of costs incurred in planning and other (including compulsory purchase Order) Proceedings

Annex 5 The Costs Application

Inquiry or hearing cases

1. Any application for costs should normally be made to the Planning Inspector at the inquiry or hearing. Because costs are awarded on the basis of unreasonable conduct, it is usually clear by this stage whether there are grounds for such an allegation. An application made before the end of the proceedings enables the Inspector to consider the parties' submissions. It can usually be dealt with simply and speedily. The Inspector's appeal decision will not be affected in any way by the fact that an application for costs has been made. Both parties' representations on any costs application will normally be made immediately after an inquiry or hearing. If necessary, a short adjournment may be allowed, at the Inspector's discretion, before the application is heard. If the appeal has been transferred to the Inspector for decision, he will normally also determine the costs application. If the Secretary of State is to decide the appeal, the Inspector will report the application and usually make a recommendation, which will be considered when deciding whether to make any award.

Cases where no inquiry or hearing is held because of a late cancellation

2. If an arranged inquiry or hearing is cancelled as a direct result of an appellant's withdrawal of the appeal, or the planning authority's withdrawal of their reasons for refusal or of their enforcement notice, or of any other basis for the proceedings, an application for costs should be made in writing immediately to the Department. If some delay is unavoidable, the application should be made no later than four weeks after receiving confirmation from the Department (or, in the case of any third parties, from the planning authority) that the inquiry or hearing has been cancelled. This is already the practice in enforcement notice appeals (and some specialist appeals cited in paragraph 10 of the Circular), which proceeded by written representations but were not determined because of the withdrawal by one of the principal parties. In the case of other proceedings under the Planning Acts, the Secretary of State does not intend to consider using the discretionary power, in section 322A of the 1990 Act, unless, as in the case of enforcement notice appeals, a specific application for costs is accepted for consideration, which is made by one of the principal parties against the other principal party, or by one, or more, third parties against a principal party. The decision whether the action which caused the cancellation of the inquiry or hearing was unreasonable will then be taken on the basis of an exchange of written submissions. Particular attention will be paid to the circumstances and timing of the action and to the stated justification. The decision on costs will therefore be made solely on the basis of material information which will have been made available to the relevant parties for prior comment.

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