ABSTRACT
Although the statutory inquiry is provided for as a part of many decisions taken by various ministers in central government departments, there is no doubt that the more important and frequent inquiries occur in relation to decisions affecting land. More particularly the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 governing the need for planning permission for the development of land together with a wide variety of other statutes authorising the compulsory purchase of land under the procedures set out in the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 provide for decisions to be made by the Secretary of State for the Environment. Such decisions will in some cases be policy-based. In a previous example it was seen that a proposal to acquire land compulsorily for the building of houses may be supported strongly by the ‘confirming authority’, the Secretary of State for the Environment. Such support may be grounded in a policy to encourage more house building in areas of pressing need and such a policy may even be used to override strong objections based on the fact that the land in question is of good agricultural quality.
