Making your Appeal

Once you have decided to make an appeal, you deal with the Planning Inspectorate, and not the Local Planning Authority. It is the Planning Inspectorate that will now deal with your appeal and make the decision.

You can make an appeal yourself, and many people do. Some people choose to pay professional consultants to help them make their appeal. Alternatively, Planning Aid provides free and independent advice on planning issues.

Appeal Form

In order to make an appeal, you must submit an appeal form. This can be submitted online, or sent by post to the Planning Inspectorate. The most convenient and easiest way to submit the appeal is online, however if you cannot submit your appeal online, you can be sent a paper copy of the form by contacting the Planning Inspectorate Customer Services Team on 0117 372 6372.

The completed appeal form needs to be sent to the Planning Inspectorate with copies of all relevant documents and plans. The appeal form contains information about what you will need to send.

Submitting the appeal online

The Planning Casework Service lets you submit appeals for certain types of case online.

If you submit an appeal form online, you do not need to send in a paper copy of the form, but you may need to send some supporting documents by post. The appeal form contains information about what you will need to send.

When you submit your appeal online, you will get an on-screen receipt to tell you that we have received the appeal, and it will show the reference that has been allocated to the new appeal. You will also get the opportunity to save a copy of the completed form which will also show the reference.

Further guidance and information on using the Planning Casework Service is here.

Completing the Appeal form

In order to complete the appeal form, you will need to provide:

• Contact details of your Local Planning Authority
• Details of your original planning application and decision (if any)
• Details of the appeal site
• Description of the development
• Preferred choice of procedure
• Grounds of appeal
• Appeal site ownership details
• Essential supporting documents, which are listed on the appeal form.

The grounds of appeal make up your case. This is where you need to explain why you disagree with the Local Planning Authority’s decision and/or say why you should be given permission. You should deal with each of the Local Planning Authority’s reasons for turning your application down.

When using the written procedure, full grounds of appeal need to be given on the appeal form as these will be the basis of your argument against the Local Planning Authority’s decision. The Planning Inspectorate may ask you for more details, which must be provided in time, otherwise your appeal cannot progress.

If you have requested a hearing or an inquiry, the grounds of appeal should be a brief outline of your grounds.