The Planning Inspectorate serves the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the National Assembly for Wales on appeals and other casework under planning, housing, environment, highways and allied legislation. Through the work of the Agency the policies of the Secretary of State and the National Assembly are taken forward. Disputes between individuals and public authorities are resolved against the background of these policies.

A separate Welsh agency group located in Cardiff carries out the Inspectorate's operations in Wales. Development plan work is handled as a single operation for England and Wales and the costs are charged to local planning authorities.

This Statistical Report gives details of the casework we deal with and, in most instances, gives figures for the previous two years as well as the current year. The report complements the information in our Annual Report, which deals with our performance against targets. Our future plans each year are set out in the Agency's Business and Corporate Plan. The Annual Report and Business and Corporate Plan are available from us.

Potentially we may have to deal with up to 200 different categories of work. The number of cases received in each category can vary from several thousand to just one or two each year. Table 1 shows the main types of cases and numbers decided (unless indicated otherwise) in England in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

Table 1: Main Casework Types

Case Type	1998-99	1999-2000
Development Plan Inquiries opened1	38	36
Planning Appeals	12,877	12,619
Enforcement Notice Appeals2	2,370	2,746
Listed Building & Conservation Area Consent Appeals	603	633
Listed Building Enforcement Notice Appeals	143	161
Lawful Development Certificate Appeals	183	128
Public Path and Definitive Map Orders	317	336
Advertisement Appeals	2,014	2,195
Applications for Costs	1,583	1,407
Compulsory Purchase Orders3	103	90
Environment, Environmental Protection and Water Resources Act appeals	185	60
Called in Planning Applications	119	133

-1	-development plan inquiries opened in England and Wales
-2	-includes appeals under section 39 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and 174 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990
-3	-number of cases received during the year
-4	-number of applications referred to Inspectorate