Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments First Report


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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Prepared 8 December 2003