The Planning Inspectorate’s pilot scheme to fast track householder appeals went live on 2 January 2008. The objective is to test the FTHA procedure on a live, but voluntary basis, in readiness for the potential full roll-out subject to the necessary legislation being put in place.

The process

The revised process includes major changes for the Inspectorate, for local planning authorities and for appellants.

At the heart of the process is the ability to use the original application file held by the local planning authority in an electronic format for administering the appeal. The local planning authority will rely purely on their decision notice to defend the appeal together with any internal reports. They will not provide a formal appeal statement and will not attend the site visit.

The appellant will send in an appeal statement with their appeal forms.

Planning Inspectors will work entirely electronically, based on the electronic file provided by the local planning authority. The Inspector will visit the site alone, with the appellant present in some cases only to provide access to the site.

The streamlined process will decide householder appeals in eight weeks, once the supporting legislation is in place. This is approximately 6 weeks quicker than at present. The pilot, operating within the current legislative framework, is targeting 12 weeks.

The benefits

The benefits are immense for all stakeholders:

For appellants, the process is simpler to understand, requires less form filling and relies mainly on documentation already sent to the local planning authority. There are therefore reductions in the time taken to submit the appeal and ultimately in receiving the decision.
For the Inspectorate there is less time taken in chasing up missing documents, putting the appeal file together, and generally administering the process.
For local planning authorities, time and cost savings are achieved by not having to provide a formal appeal statement, by using electronic files, filling in simpler forms and by removing the need to send their limited planning resources to attend the appeal site visit.

Who is taking part?

The whole pilot process is completely voluntary for both local planning authorities and for appellants.

Appellants whose appeals fall within the scope of the pilot will receive information on both the current procedure and also the pilot procedure. They may then choose which process to follow. Participation is entirely voluntary.

The following nine local planning authorities have agreed to take part at the start of the pilot.

Birmingham City Council
London Borough of Hillingdon
London Borough of Brent
Kennet District Council
London Borough of Ealing
North Somerset Council
London Borough of Harrow
London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames
London Borough of Wandsworth

As the pilot develops it is anticipated that up to around 20 local planning authorities will be signed up to take part.

If additional authorities wish to take part in the pilot they should contact Jenny Redwood, the Planning Inspectorate, telephone 0117 372 8069, e-mail: Jenny.Redwood@pins.gsi.gov.uk