Section 6: Appeal procedures
The Valuation Office for Agency's (VOA) technical manual for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
6.1 General
When an appeal is received by the VOA it is necessary to firstly establish that it is a valid appeal. This involves checking that the appeal is made in the prescribed form, by a person who is entitled to make an appeal and within the time limits specified for the particular type of appeal in question (including whether or not the chargeable development has commenced in the case of regulation 114, 116, 116A and 116B appeals). When a valid appeal is received it must then be dealt with in accordance with the procedures set out in the regulations.
6.2 Form of Appeal
Under regulation 120 appeals must be made in writing on a form obtained from the Secretary of State (or a form to substantially the same effect) and include the particulars specified or referred to in the form. A copy of the appeal form and guidance notes for completion can be found at Appendix 4.
6.3 Persons Entitled to Make an Appeal
Details of who is entitled to make an appeal in each of the six types of appeal under regulations 114, 115, 116, 116A, 116B and Schedule 1, paragraph 9 are set out in Appendix 5.
6.4 Time Limits for Making Appeals
Details of the time limits within which an appeal must be made in each of the six types of appeal under regulations 114, 115, 116, 116A, 116B and Schedule 1, paragraph 9 are set out in Appendix 5.
6.5 Acknowledgement of Appeals
Under regulation 120(3) the appointed person must, as soon as practicable after receipt of an appeal, send:-
(a) an acknowledgment of receipt to the appellant in writing, which must include:-
(i) the reference number allocated to the appeal, and
(ii) the address to which written communications to the appointed person about the appeal are to be sent;
(b) a copy of the acknowledgement mentioned above to each ‘interested party’ together with:-
(i) a copy of the completed appeal form, and
(ii) notice that written representations in relation to the appeal may be sent to the appointed person before the end of the ‘representations period’.
6.6 Interested Parties
Details of the ‘interested parties’ to whom the copy of the appeal form must be sent in each of the six types of appeal under regulations 114, 115, 116, 116A, 116B and Schedule 1, paragraph 9 are set out in regulations 112(2)(a-d) and 112(3)(a-b) and are listed in Appendix 6.
6.7 The Representations Period
The ‘representations period’ is defined in regulation 112(1) as 14 days beginning with the date the acknowledgement of receipt is sent under regulation 120(3), or such longer period as the appointed person may in any particular case determine.
As the regulations do not specify the time limits in terms of ‘working days’ the limits must be taken as being in calendar days.
6.8 Representations
The completed appeal form comprises the appellant’s representations in relation to the appeal. Any written representations from the interested parties in relation to the appeal must be received by the appointed person before the end of the representations period. On receipt of an interested party’s representations, the appointed person must, as soon as practicable, send a copy of those representations to the appellant and each of the other interested parties.
6.9 Comments on Representations
Any comments the appellant and the interested parties have on each other’s representations must be received by the appointed person in writing within 14 days of the end of the representations period; and the appointed person must, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of those comments to each of the other parties to the appeal.
6.10 Consideration and Decision
The appointed person must consider any representations and comments made by the appellant and interested parties and then notify them in writing of:-
(a) the decision on the appeal; and
(b) the reasons for the decision.
In exceptional circumstances the appointed person may consider evidence from other publicly available sources but in such cases the appellant and interested parties must be given an opportunity to comment on such evidence (see paragraph 7.12(b)).
6.11 Costs
The appointed person may make an order as to the costs of the parties to the appeal and as to the parties by whom such costs are to be paid.
Guidance on the award of the costs that may be applied for by the parties and the circumstances in which awards of costs may be made are set out in the guidance at Appendix 8.
6.12 Right to Withdraw an Appeal
An appellant may withdraw an appeal at any time by giving notice in writing to the appointed person.
6.13 Judicial Review
There is no right of appeal against the decision of the appointed person. The decision can therefore only be challenged by means of judicial review.