ABSTRACT
Prior to adopting the structure plan, the county planning authority must provide an opportunity for the objections to be considered, and this is done by holding an Examination in Public (EIP). This form of inquiry is only adopted in the case of structure plans; objections to local plans are considered at a public local inquiry, details of which are given in para 3.11. The term ‘examination in public’ literally means that the objections are heard in public and any person is entitled to attend but no person has a right to be heard; active participation is restricted to those persons invited to do so (s 35B(5)(a)). Obviously, the county planning authority will be a party to the examination, and bearing in mind that the structure plan itself is restricted to broad policy matters, other parties invited to present cases are likely to be those representing major land use interests, for example, House Builders’ Federation, Chambers of Commerce, the National Farmers’ Union. This is certainly not the occasion to argue the case for the development of a particular piece of land, but these policy proposals will have a major effect upon the content of local plans and, therefore, are of great significance to the future development pattern in a county. It is the duty of a district planning authority to seek to achieve the general objectives contained in the relevant structure plan in terms of both the content of its own local plan, and also when determining applications for permission to carry out development.
