We have an extensive amount of experience within the planning appeal process from identifying the main issues and writing statements of case to attending site visits and representing appellants at hearings. This includes appeal work across the country.
In any one year the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) receives thousands of appeals with the 2023 statistics showing that they made 17,750 appeal decisions in a twelve-month period (an average of around 1,500 a month). Of those most appeals are dealt with via written representations. The remainder are dealt with via other appeal routes such as hearings or public enquiry. It is not a route which should be taken lightly given it can often take several months (for example enforcement appeals are still taking in excess of twelve months) and, in some appeals, the evidence and reports required to put the best case forward can be relatively costly. There is no fee to PINS for determining the appeal.
In the last quarter of 2023 planning appeal success rates averaged 27%. Your chances at appeal are, therefore, only likely if you can present a robustly prepared and well evidenced case to put before your Inspector. The role of an Inspector is to review the evidence and case before them and reach a conclusion based on that, and that only. They have no requirement to determine outside of what is submitted by the parties involved. This means putting everything in front of an Inspector, which you wish to base your argument upon, is crucial. It is not a case of hoping someone may take a differing view to a Council.
If your application has been refused, we regularly review applications, ascertain the main issues and advise if an appeal has any realistic prospect of being allowed or whether there are any other options which could achieve permission such as through a re-submission (sometimes alongside an appeal depending on the issues and timescales involved). Similarly to our main planning work we can do as much, or as little, as is needed in so far as we can prepare and submit appeals and manage the process from start to finish or we can provide appeal statements for use within your own submissions. We regularly provide branded, and unbranded, appeal statements (statements of case) for other consultancies and architects practices to utilise within their own submissions.