Regulations made under this Act may provide for the combination in a single document, made in such form and transmitted to such authority as may be prescribed by the regulations, of—
(a) an application for planning permission in respect of any development; and
(b) an application required, under any enactment specified in the regulations, to be made to a local authority in respect of that development.
Before making any regulations under this section, the Secretary of State shall consult with such local authorities or associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned.
Different provision may be made by any such regulations in relation to areas in which different enactments are in force.
An application required to be made to a local authority under an enactment specified in any such regulations shall, if made in accordance with the provisions of the regulations, be valid notwithstanding anything in that enactment prescribing, or enabling any authority to prescribe, the form in which, or the manner in which, such an application is to be made.
Subsection (4) of this section shall have effect without prejudice to—
(a) the validity of any application made in accordance with the enactment in question ; or
(b) any provision of that enactment enabling a local authority to require further particulars of the matters to which the application relates,
5 In this section " application " includes a submission.