The Planning Inspectorate serves the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government 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 year ending 31 March 2001 and two previous years. The report complements the information in our Annual Report, which deals with out 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 both available on our website at http://www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk.

Potentially we may 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 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.

Table 1: Main Casework Types Decided

Case Type	1999-2000	2000-2001
Development Plan Inquiries opened (England and Wales)	36	28
Planning Appeals (England and Wales)	13,248	13,544
Enforcement Notice Appeals (England and Wales)1	2,873	2,253
Listed Building & Conservation Area Consent Appeals	633	637
Listed Building Enforcement Notice Appeals	161	126
Lawful Development Certificate Appeals	128	117
Public Path and Definitive Map Orders	336	255
Advertisement Appeals (England and Wales)	2,282	2,277
Applications for Costs	1,407	1,296
Compulsory Purchase Orders2	90	68
Environment, Environmental Protection and Water Resources Act Appeals	60	47
Called in Planning Applications3	133	123

1- 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

2 - Number of cases received during the year

3 - Number of applications referred to Inspectorate