s 62A When application may be made directly to Secretary of State
(1) A relevant application that would otherwise have to be made to the local planning authority may (if the applicant so chooses) be made instead to the Secretary of State if the following conditions are met at the time it is made— (a) the local planning authority concerned is designated by the Secretary of State for applications of a description specified in the designation; and (b) the application falls within that description. (1A) Only prescribed descriptions of application may be specified in a designation under subsection (1). (2) In this section “ relevant application ” means— (a) an application for planning permission, or permission in principle, for the development of land in England, or (b) an application for approval of a matter that, as defined by section 92, is a reserved matter in the case of an outline planning permission for the development of land in England, but does not include an application of the kind described in section 73(1) or an application of a description excluded by regulations. (3) Where a relevant application is made to the Secretary of State under this section, an application under the planning Acts— (a) that is— (i) an application for listed building consent ... under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, ... (ia) an application for hazardous substances consent under the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act 1990, or (ii) an application of a description prescribed by the Secretary of State, (b) that is considered by the person making the application to be connected with the relevant application, (c) that would otherwise have to be made to the local planning authority or hazardous substances authority, (d) that is neither a relevant application nor an application of the kind described in section 73(1), and (e) that relates to land in England, may (if the person so chooses) be made instead to the Secretary of State. (4) If an application (“the connected application”) is made to the Secretary of State under subsection (3) but the Secretary of State considers that it is not connected with the relevant application concerned, the Secretary of State may— (a) refer the connected application to the local planning authority, or hazardous substances authority, to whom it would otherwise have been made; and (b) direct that the connected application— (i) is to be treated as having been made to that authority (and not to the Secretary of State under this section), and (ii) is to be determined by that authority accordingly. (5) The decision of the Secretary of State on an application made to the Secretary of State under this section shall be final. (6) The Secretary of State may give directions requiring a local planning authority or hazardous substances authority to do things in relation to an application made to the Secretary of State under this section that would otherwise have been made to the authority; and directions under this subsection— (a) may relate to a particular application or to applications more generally; and (b) may be given to a particular authority or to authorities more generally.