70A.—(1) A local planning authority may decline to determine an application for express consent if—E+W
(a)within the period of two years ending with the date on which the application is received, the Secretary of State has dismissed an appeal against the refusal of a similar application; and
(b)in the opinion of the authority there has been no significant change since the dismissal mentioned in paragraph (a) in any material consideration.
(2) For the purposes of this section an application for express consent shall be taken to be similar to a later application if the subject matter of the applications and the land to which they relate are in the opinion of the local planning authority the same or substantially the same.