Notes for the Guidance of Inspectors Holding Inquiries into orders and Special Road Schemes.

1. Introduction

1.1 These notes concern public local inquiries into schemes and orders made under Parts II and XII of the Highways Act 1980, Part X of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Acquisition of land Act 1981. The general principles are also relevant to other statutory or non-statutory public inquiries which Inspectors are called upon to hold. Paragraph 1.2 below details certain types of inquiry to which these notes do not apply.

1.2 Orders which are within the scope of these notes include road (line) and side road orders (SRO), related compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), stopping up orders, guided transport systems and cycle track orders. The notes specifically do not apply to inquiries relating to planning applications or to rights of way, including public path orders and definitive map orders. Separate detailed guidance on the conduct of inquiries under the Transport and Works Act 1992 is in preparation to augment this more general guidance. Where these notes are at variance with any Act, Statutory Instrument or other legal requirement, the latter takes precedence.

1.3 No distinction is made in these notes between schemes and orders: the word order should be taken to mean scheme and the singular may be taken as the plural. All inquiries are public local inquiries. The Secretary of State in these notes should generally be taken to mean Secretary of State for Transport (SST) for local authority road schemes. For trunk road orders, the SST and the First Secretary of State have a joint role 1 (although this is the case, 'the Secretary of State' is referred to throughout and should be taken to relate to circumstances where it refers to the SST or where there are joint responsibilities). In Wales , the National Assembly for Wales (NAW) now exercises most of the powers formerly exercised by the Secretary of State for Wales. 2 , 3 In some instances the wording Secretary of State/ NAW may be taken as meaning the relevant London Borough.

1.4 Following the Greater London Authority Act 1999, Transport for London (TfL), the Mayor's transport executive, is the highway authority for a network of London 's most important roads - the GLA roads. The network is defined in the GLA Roads Designation Order 2000 and the GLA Roads Designation (Amendment) Order 2000. The network is based on the red route and primary route networks with some adjustment to take account of new roads and with some additional roads in central London , Docklands, Croydon and Kingston . The Secretary of State will continue to have responsibility for motorways and some other roads linking to the national network. All other trunk roads in Greater London have become GLA roads. The Mayor has power under Section 14B of the Highways Act 1980 to make an order directing that a GLA road should become a borough road or a borough road should become a GLA road. In both cases the borough affected must give consent. Where consent is refused, then the Secretary of State will decide whether or not to confirm the order, with or without modification.

1.5 Inspectors should note that in the case of Stopping Up Orders in London the report is directed to the relevant London borough.

1.6 The Government has a dual involvement with motorways and trunk roads as both promoter and decision-maker. The highway authority for motorways and trunk roads in England is the Secretary of State for Transport. The Highways Agency promotes schemes on the Secretary of State's behalf at the inquiry. The Secretary of State for Transport/First Secretary of State make the decisions after the inquiry. In Wales , the NAW promotes motorway and trunk road schemes and takes the decisions after the inquiry. In the interests of impartiality, it is undesirable that in these cases the Secretary of State/ NAW should also choose the individuals to conduct the inquiries. Therefore public inquiries concerned with orders relating to motorways and trunk roads are conducted by individuals appointed as Inspectors for the specific purpose of holding such inquiries.

1.7 Inquiries relating to orders made by local authorities under the Highways Act 1980, or other relevant Acts, and not concerned with motorways and trunk roads, may be conducted either by fee paid Inspectors, or by salaried or contract Inspectors of the Planning Inspectorate since the Government is not involved in promoting the orders. Decisions on whether to confirm such orders are made by the Secretary of State / NAW.

1.8 These notes include guidance on the procedures recommended for large inquiries where many parties may be legally represented. Most inquiries are smaller, shorter and more straightforward and so the procedures can be appropriately simplified. The Government is anxious to ensure that objections are properly heard, and that objectors are not handicapped by an ignorance of the rules or by lack of information. However, the Government also wishes to ensure that inquiries are conducted smoothly and efficiently. The aim of this guidance is to achieve just that.

1, The relevant statutory Instrument is the Transfer of Functions (Transport, Local Government and the Regions) Order 2002 - SI 2002 No 2626

2, The relevant statutory Instrument is the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999, SI No 672.

3, Most of the abbreviations in these notes should be self-explanatory but a reference list is provided at Annex L.

Revised November 2004

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