Making Your Enforcement Appeal (Guide)

Complaints and Challenges

Complaints about The Planning Inspectorate

The first letter we send you accepting your appeal will give the name of your case officer. He or she should be the first person you contact with any queries or complaints about the way we handle your appeal.

If you have any complaints or questions about the decision, or the way we have handled the appeal, please write to our Complaints Officer:

The Complaints Officer
The Planning Inspectorate
Crown Buildings Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Phone: 029 2082 3889
Fax: 029 2082 5150
E-mail: complaints@pins.gsi.gov.uk

They will reply to you, or they will ask a section within the Inspectorate to reply because they have specific specialist knowledge.

We will investigate your complaint and you can expect a full reply within three weeks. However, we cannot reconsider an appeal if a decision has already been given on it. The only time this can be done is if the decision is successfully challenged in the High Court.

The High Court

An appeal decision can only be challenged on legal grounds in the High Court.

To be successful you would have to show that:

The Inspector, or the Assembly, has gone beyond their powers or misinterpreted the law; or

We did not follow the proper procedures and so damaged your interests.

If your challenge is successful, the High Court will overturn the original appeal decision and return the case to us. The appeal will be considered again, usually by a different Inspector. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the original decision will be reversed. The Inspector may come to the same decision, but for different reasons.

If you decide to challenge the appeal decision, you must apply to the High Court within 28 days of the date of the appeal decision. When we send you the appeal decision, we will send you a leaflet explaining your right to challenge it.

The Welsh Administration Ombudsman

If you think that we haven’t treated you fairly, you can ask the Ombudsman to investigate. The Ombudsman has no power to question the merits of your appeal or to alter the decision. The Ombudsman is only concerned with the way we deal with and administer appeals. The Ombudsman will usually expect you to have made a complaint to us first before they investigate your case. The Ombudsman can be contacted at:

The Welsh Administration Ombudsman
5th Floor
Capital Tower
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff
CF10 3AG

Tel: 0845 601 0987
Fax: 029 2022 6909

Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council

If you feel that there was something wrong with the basic procedure we used for your appeal, you can complain to Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council at:

Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council
81 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1BQ.

The Council will take up your complaint if they think it concerns them. Like the Ombudsman, they are not concerned with the merits of your appeal and have no power to alter the decision.

The Local Government Ombudsman

If you have a complaint about the way the LPA dealt with you, you can, in some cases, ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate. However, the Local Government Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint about a LPA’s decision just because you do not agree with it, and the Ombudsman has no power to alter their decision. You can get a booklet explaining how to make a complaint by writing to the Local Government Ombudsman at:

Derwen House
Court Road
Bridgend
CF31 1BN

Tel: 01656 661325

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