Regulation 28 Date and notification of hearing

The date fixed by the Secretary of State for a hearing shall be the earliest date after the expiry of the appeal period which she considers to be practicable having regard to the desirability of arranging consecutive hearings to be held in connection with appeals relating to land in the area to which the provisional map relates.

Unless the Secretary of State agrees a lesser period of notice with the appellant and the Agency, she shall give the appellant, the Agency and any person who, under regulation 21(c), has made representations to the Secretary of State in respect of the appeal not less than four weeks' written notice of the date, time and place fixed by her for the holding of a hearing.

The Secretary of State may at any time change the date fixed for the holding of a hearing (whether or not the new date is within the period mentioned in paragraph (1)) and paragraph (2) shall apply to the new date.

The Secretary of State may at any time change the time or place for the holding of a hearing and shall give such notice of any change to the persons mentioned in paragraph (2).

The Secretary of State may require the Agency, not less than two weeks before the date fixed for the hearing, or, in the case of a number of consecutive appeals relating to land in the area to which the provisional map relates, the date fixed for the hearing of the first of such appeals, to publish a notice of the hearing, or (as the case may be) of the hearing of the first of such appeals, in one or more newspapers circulating in the locality in which the appeal land is situated; and the Secretary of State shall ensure that the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency makes a copy of such notice available for inspection on a website which it maintains until the appeal is determined.

Every notice of hearing published pursuant to paragraph (5) shall contain—