Water Resources Act 1991 (as amended)
Discharge Consent and Associated Appeals - Appeal Procedure Guide
Other Points
Withdrawal of appeals
30. An appellant may withdraw the appeal at any time, as long as written confirmation is sent to the Inspectorate and a copy to the Agency.
Confidentiality
31. In cases where the appellant considers that matters of confidentiality
will
arise during the appeal, the case may be recovered for decision by the
Secretary of State. However, if these are minor points in the appeal
then the Inspector will decide the appeal but deal with these points
in confidence.
Assessors
32. Exceptionally, in some inquiry cases an assessor may be appointed
by the
Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State, to advise
the Inspector on specific technical issues. The assessor will sit alongside
the Inspector and consider the representations made. The assessor will
write a report to the Inspector, the contents of which will be made public
(unless issues of confidentiality are involved) when a decision is issued.
33. Where an assessor is appointed, everyone entitled to appear at the
inquiry
will be notified of the assessor’s name and matters on which he
or she is to advise the Inspector.
Costs
34. You and the Agency will normally have to pay your own expenses for
an
appeal. However, if the appeal is to be decided by a hearing or an inquiry,
you can ask that the Agency be ordered to pay all or part of your costs.
The Agency has the same right to ask you to pay some or all of their
costs.
35. Applications for costs are normally heard towards the end of the
proceedings and will only be allowed if the party claiming the costs
can show that the other side behaved unreasonably and put them to unnecessary
expense.
Complaints against the Decision
36. Once the decision notice has been sent to you, either by the Secretary
of
State or the Inspector, the decision is final. The Secretary of State,
or the Inspector, can no longer consider further representations or make
any further comments on the merits or otherwise of the case.
Complaints about the Planning Inspectorate
37. The letters acknowledging receipt of the appeal will give the name
of the
Case Officer. The case Officer should be the first person contacted with
queries or complaints about the handling of the appeal. If this is not
satisfactory, the Complaints Officer can be contacted at the following
address:
The Complaints Officer
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 4/09 Kite Wing
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
Bristol BS1 6PN
Tel: 0117 372 8935.
