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Planning appeals

If you have submitted a planning application, under certain circumstances, you have a right of appeal against our decision.


Appeals are made to the Secretary of State through the Planning Inspectorate who are based in Bristol.

There are 3 circumstances in which an applicant can lodge an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate, these are:

  1. An applicant may appeal against the refusal of the application by us.
  2. If the application has been granted planning permission by us and the applicant disagrees with one or more of the planning conditions imposed by us to control and regulate the development, the applicant may appeal against the imposition of the conditions.
  3. If the applicant concludes that we are taking too long to deal with their application, then they may appeal against our failure to either approve or refuse their application. Such appeals are called appeals against non-determination.

Time limits

There are time limits for appeals:

  • an appeal against refusal of permission or the imposition of conditions must be lodged within 6 months of the date of the decision, that is the date on the decision notice
  • appeals against non-determination must be lodged within 6 months of the date that the application was declared valid - you will be notified of the date
  • appeals against non-determination can only be made 8 weeks after the date on which the application was declared valid, or 16 weeks after that date in the case of applications requiring environmental assessments - except where an extension of time has been agreed

Who can appeal?

Only the applicant in whose name the application was made has a right to appeal.

Other interested parties, including those who made representations, cannot lodge appeals against the council's decisions.

However, once an appeal is lodged all representations received by us during the processing of the planning application will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration and assessment by the inspector.

Interested parties who have made representation on the planning application will be notified of the receipt of the appeal and will therefore have an opportunity to make further representations if they so wish.

If third parties wish to know the outcome of an appeal they must write to the Planning Inspectorate and ask to be informed of the decision.

Appellants and us will automatically be informed of any decision made.

How to appeal

Appeals must be made on forms which may be obtained from:

The Planning Inspectorate
Customer Support Unit
Temple Quay
Bristol
BS1 6PN
Tel. 0117 372 6372

Or you can download the form from the Planning Inspectorate.

What happens next

Once an appeal has been declared valid by the Planning Inspectorate, the Secretary of State will appoint an inspector to deal with the case.

He or she will ultimately determine the case on behalf of the Secretary of State, or will advise the Secretary of State how they consider the case should be determined. Appeals are either upheld (approved) or dismissed (refused).

Types of appeals

There are 3 types of appeals:

  • written representations
  • hearings
  • public inquiries

Written representations are best suited to relatively straight forward cases, whilst public inquiries are best reserved for the most complex issues where there is a lot of public interest.

It's the appellant's choice which route to take.

Written representations are dealt with by the exchange of documentation and by a site visit by the inspector accompanied by the appellants and our representatives.

At hearings and public inquiries the parties to the appeal (the appellant, us and interested parties) are able to present their cases in person.

View current planning appeals