Planning Circular 4/2013: Planning appeals

APPEALS IN RELATION TO THE DISPLAY OF ADVERTISEMENTS

76. The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984 (the 1984 Regulations) apply certain provisions of the Act to the control of advertisements. Part 6 (regulations 19-20) of the 2013 Regulations concerns appeals in relation to applications for advertisement consent and against discontinuance notices regarding advertisements. Appeals against enforcement notices served under regulation 24 of the 1984 Regulations are covered by Part 4 of the 2013 Regulations (see paragraphs 57 to 67).

Appeals relating to applications for advertisement consent

77. Regulation 19 relates to appeals against:

• the refusal of an application for advertisement consent or a grant of such consent with conditions;
• the refusal of any application for consent, agreement or approval required by a condition on an advertisement consent or the granting of it subject to conditions; and
• the failure to determine such applications.

78. The regulations contained in Parts 3 and 9 of the 2013 Regulations and in the Hearing Session Rules and the Inquiry Session Rules apply in such cases, as do the savings and transitional provisions and revocations in Part 10 of the 2013 Regulations (see paragraphs 106 to 108).

79. Part 2 of the 2013 Regulations (on giving notice of the appeal to Scottish Ministers, the planning authority and interested parties, the responses of the authority and interested parties to such notice and the publication of appeal documents) applies with modifications. These modifications are:

• references to "permission", "development" and "the land to which development relates" are changed to, respectively, "consent to display advertisements", "advertisement" and "the site where the advertisement is to be displayed";
• the requirement to submit a Report on Handling does not apply;
• the time period for determining applications is two months from the date of receipt of the application by the planning authority (rather than from the "validation date" - which has a specific meaning in relation to other applications); and
• the period for making an appeal will remain six months for those applications where the right to appeal arose before 30 June 2013. For other cases the period is three months.

Appeals in relation to discontinuance notices

80. Where a planning authority serve a notice requiring the discontinuance of the display of an advertisement under regulation 14 of the 1984 Regulations, the recipient has a right of appeal to Scottish Ministers. Regulation 20 makes provision in this regard, including applying other provisions in the 2013 Regulations to such appeals.

81. A discontinuance notice will specify the period after which the notice takes effect. Notice of an appeal against it must be served on Scottish Ministers (and the planning authority) before the end of either that period, or any extension to this period made under regulation 14(5) of the 1984 Regulations.

82. The notice of appeal must contain the same information listed in paragraph 60 in relation to statements of appeal regarding enforcement notices. The notice of appeal must be accompanied by copies of all of the documents, materials and evidence which the appellant intends to rely on in the appeal.

83. Regulation 15 of the 2013 Regulations on the intimation of an appeal to the planning authority and the planning authority's response applies in relation to discontinuance notice appeals, subject to modifications of the requirements relevant to such appeals.

84. The planning authority must give notice of the appeal to the other recipients of the discontinuance notice within 14 days following notification of the appeal by the appellant. This notice must:

• state the name of the appellant and specify the advertisement or the site to which the appeal relates;
• describe the steps required by the discontinuance notice;
• state that representations may be made to Scottish Ministers and provide information as to how and by when (being not less than 14 days from the date on which notice is given) such representations may be made; and
• state where a copy of the notice of appeal and of the planning authority's response may be inspected.

85. As with enforcement appeals, the procedures for determining cases with or without further procedure are as set out in Parts 3 and 9 (except regulation 29 - see paragraph 101) and in the Hearing Session and Inquiry Session Rules in the 2013 Regulations.