Nor should the Minister do anything calculated to influence such a decision. Taking account of these requirements, arrangements are in place to ensure that Planning Ministers in DETR do not take decisions on planning cases within the regions where their constituencies are located. Decisions in those cases will be taken by another Planning Minister, as appropriate. They should therefore decline requests for meetings from MPs, delegations of local people, parties to an appeal or called-in application, pressure groups or any other party who wish to make representations about a particular planning case. The same principle applies to other forms of contact with interested parties, including telephone calls.
Similar considerations arise in the exercise of discretionary powers on planning matters.
Given the need to act, and to be seen to act, fairly and even-handedly, Ministers should avoid discussing matters relevant to these decisions with an interested party. The question sometimes arises of how far it is appropriate for Planning Ministers to discuss cases with Ministerial colleagues. Subject to certain statutory exceptions, decisions in planning cases are for Planning Ministers alone, taking into account material planning considerations . Although matters relating to the application of Government policy should be addressed at the inquiry stage, it may nevertheless be appropriate for Planning Ministers to receive advice on matters of policy, eg in relation to transport, which are relevant to the decision, to enable an informed judgement to be made. If, in the course of such discussion, new issues emerge which are relevant to the case but have not previously been exposed, there would be a need to refer these to the parties for comment.