Terms and conditions

Terms of website use

Welcome to the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website. This page tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website at https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk (‘the Website’). Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use the Website. By using the Website, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to accept these terms of use, please refrain from using the Website.

Information about us

The Website is operated by the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate is a government agency. Please direct all communications to our Bristol headquarters: The Planning Inspectorate, Temple Quay House, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN. Corporate information about us can be found at https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate.

Accessing the Website

Access to the Website is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on the Website without notice (see below). We will not be liable if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.

From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Website, or the entire Website, to users who have registered with us.

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Website through your internet connection are aware of these terms, and that they comply with them.

Intellectual property rights

The Crown is the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights of the Website, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from the Website for your personal reference.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on the Website must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the materials on the Website for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors. Any re-use, including the reproduction, reutilisation, extraction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display or performance of the content on this website is strictly prohibited. If you would like to re-use the information, the Planning Inspectorate will consider your application in accordance with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. You should contact us or make a written request to:

Information Access Officer
Planning Inspectorate
Temple Quay House
Temple Quay
Bristol, BS1 6PN

Please note charges may apply.

If you print off, copy or download any part of the Website in breach of these terms of use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Reliance on information posted

Commentary and other materials posted on the Website are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. We therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to the Website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

The website changes regularly

We aim to update the Website regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, we may suspend access to the Website or close it indefinitely. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Our liability

The material displayed on the Website is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, we, other members of our group of companies and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:

  • All conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.
  • Any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with the Website or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of the Website, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including, without limitation any liability for: loss of income or revenue, loss of business, loss of profits or contracts, loss of anticipated savings, loss of data, loss of goodwill, wasted management or office time and for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

This does not affect our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, nor our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Hyperlinks

The Website may provide hyperlinks to other websites. The Planning Inspectorate is not responsible for the availability of such other websites and does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for any content, products or other materials available on such other websites.

Cookies

The Planning Inspectorate reserves the right to gather information relating to website usage. The Website uses a web analytics service, which uses ‘cookies’ (text files placed on your computer) for the purpose of analysing your use of the Website. These cookies contain no personal information about the user.

In addition, if you register to download our brand information and logos we use cookies to enable you to directly access these documents on returning to the site.

Only the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer used to access the Website will be recorded. No information relating to cookies will be provided to a third party.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. For more information, please visit http://www.aboutcookies.org.

Other websites linked from the Website are not covered by these terms and conditions.

Viruses, hacking and other offences

You must not misuse the Website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which the Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Website. You must not attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Website will cease immediately.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Website or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

Linking to the Website

You may link to the Website, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to the Website from any website that is not owned by you.

The Website must not be framed on any other site. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than that set out above, please submit an enquiry.

Jurisdiction and applicable law

The English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to the Website. These terms of use are governed by English law.

Variations

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in these terms of use may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on the Website.

Your concerns

If you have any concerns about material which appears on the Website, please submit them through our contact page.