Costs Awards in Planning Appeals

Q7 Could I have costs awarded against me for pursuing at an inquiry or hearing an appeal which had no reasonable prospect of success?

Yes. If, for instance, the Secretary of State (or an Inspector) had recently dismissed an appeal for the same or very similar development, on the same land, nothing had changed since and there was clearly no prospect of the further appeal being successful. Or the appeal may be one which is clearly contrary to national planning policies. In such a case the local planning authority will have stronger grounds for seeking an award of costs if they can show that they alerted you to the relevant facts and warned you they would seek their costs if you persisted with your appeal.