4 S.I.
2003/2713: defective drafting
Access to the Countryside (Exclusions and Restrictions)
(England) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2713)
4.1 The Committee draws the special attention
of both Houses to these Regulations on the ground that they are
defectively drafted.
4.2 Regulation 61 requires the Secretary of State,
within 48 hours of the close of a hearing held for the purposes
of an appeal determined by her, to notify her decision on the
appeal to the appellant, the relevant authority and any one other
person who appeared at the hearing. In a memorandum printed at
Appendix 4, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
accepts that "any one other person" should have read
"any other person".
4.3 These Regulations provide in six different places
for the Secretary of State to be under a duty to ensure that decisions
on appeals are made available for inspection on the website maintained
by the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency. Regulation 61,
which provides for a seventh category of appeal, includes no equivalent
provision. The Department acknowledges that this omission was
an oversight.
4.4 The Department undertakes to amend the Regulations
to address these errors when a suitable opportunity arises and
states that meanwhile practical steps will be taken to achieve
the intended effect. The Committee accordingly reports regulation
61 for defective drafting, acknowledged by the Department.
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