Commentary on Sections Part 3 — Buildings of special architectural or historic interest Chapter 3 — Listed building partnership agreements Section 115 — Termination of agreement or provision of agreementSchedule 10 — Procedure for orders terminating listed building partnership agreements
424.Section 115(1) allows a planning authority to make an order to terminate a listed building partnership agreement to which it is a party or any provision of such an agreement. Subsection (2) gives the Welsh Ministers comparable powers, but they do not have to be party to an agreement. Termination by order is only likely to occur in exceptional cases — if, for example, works unauthorised by the agreement take place and relations between the parties break down to such an extent that negotiated termination becomes impossible.
425.A termination order may be made at any time before the conclusion of the affected works, but it will have no effect on the consent for works already completed.
426.Schedule 10 puts in place the procedures for making the termination orders. These procedures are derived from those for making an order to modify or revoke listed building consent in Schedule 8.
427.Part 1 of the Schedule makes provision about termination orders made by planning authorities. Paragraph 1(1) requires that a planning authority’s termination order must be confirmed by the Welsh Ministers before it will take effect.
428.Paragraph 1(2) requires a planning authority that has submitted an order to the Welsh Ministers for confirmation to give notice of the submission to:
429.Paragraph 1(2)(b) has been framed to require consultation with longer-term occupants of a listed building that will be affected by a termination order. More transient occupiers, for instance students in a university hall of residence, will not be captured by the provision.
430.The recipients of the notice must be given at least 28 days to make a written request to the Welsh Ministers for a hearing before an appointed person, who will usually be an inspector from Planning and Environment Decisions Wales. The period of at least 28 days must begin with the day after the day the notice is served. If a hearing is requested, each planning authority that is party to the agreement will be given the opportunity to attend (paragraph 1(3)–(5)).
431.Part 2 of the Schedule makes provision about termination orders made by the Welsh Ministers. Under paragraph 2(1) the Welsh Ministers must serve notice of the proposed termination order on the parties to the listed building partnership agreement and the other individuals listed in paragraph 430 above.
432.Before the Welsh Ministers can make the order, the recipients of the notice must be afforded the opportunity to appear before and be heard by an appointed person. The procedures in paragraph 2(2)–(4) mirror those in paragraph 1(3)–(5).