ABSTRACT
The county planning authority must also ensure that copies of the proposals and the explanatory memorandum are made available to members of the public, and these must be accompanied by a statement of the time within which objections to the proposals may be lodged with the planning authority. Simultaneously, a copy of the proposals and the explanatory memorandum must be forwarded to the Secretary of State. This provides an opportunity for the Secretary of State to consider whether or not to ‘call in’ the proposals for approval under s 35A, or to allow them to go forward for adoption by the county planning authority under s 35. There is, therefore, provision for (and in most cases a likelihood that) the county authority will approve the structure plan without recourse to the Secretary of State, but if objections are made by the general public, or by the Secretary of State, the proposals may not be adopted by the county planning authority until they have considered such objections. In the case of the Secretary of State, if he considers the proposals to be ‘unsatisfactory’ he may direct the authority to modify them, in which case the authority may not adopt the proposals without such modifications as are deemed necessary. Should the Secretary of State decide to invoke the power to ‘call in’ the plan for approval or rejection by himself using powers granted to him under s 35A(1), (2) and (3), he may approve the plan with or without modifications, or reject it, s 35A(4)(a) and (b). He must, however, take into account objections made to the proposals and he may take into account any matters which he considers are relevant (s 35A(5)). He must give the county planning authority his reasons governing the decision (s 35A(7)).
