At Transport Planning Practice, our board of Directors collectively have over 50 years’ worth of experience giving evidence as expert witnesses at public inquiries and hearings, including planning appeals, CPO inquiries, Local Plan inquiries, EIPs and arbitration hearings.
The most common type of hearing we are asked to provide evidence in are planning appeals where a planning application has been refused by the Local Planning Authority, and the applicant then wishes to appeal the decision.
If the applicant chooses to appeal the decision, they can do so either in the form of written evidence from the applicant and any other interested party, an informal discussion with all parties involved in the form of a local hearing or a more formal planning inquiry, where the evidence is examined and witnesses are questioned in a court room setting. In all cases, the Secretary of State will appoint an independent planning inspector who will consider all case evidence before making their decision whether to dismiss or grant the appeal.
Public inquiries can be rather costly, however costs can be awarded if the local planning authority have denied planning permission based on unreasonable or unjustified grounds.
We can provide evidence in Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) inquiries, where there is an objection to a strategic purchase of land which results in an open hearing that offers the objector the opportunity to explain their grievances against the CPO. We can also provide support with or attend an Examination in Public, which is required when preparing a Local Plan as each document will be scrutinised by an independent planning inspector to test whether the document meets all the requirements of the relevant legislation.
We have provided written evidence and attended public inquiries and local hearings on behalf of many clients in the past and have represented both Local Authorities as well as developers. For more information about our services, please contact Transport Planning Practice to speak to a member of our team.