Warwickshire Direct
Planning appeals
Applicants who have submitted a planning application to the County Council have,under certain circumstances, a right of appeal against the council's decisions relating to their application.
Appeals are made to the Secretary of State through the Planning Inspectorate who are based in Bristol.
There are three main reasons which allow an applicant to appeal against the County Council's decisions.
- An applicant may appeal against the refusal of the application by the County Council;
- If the applicant has been granted planning permission by the County Council and the applicant disagrees with one or more of the planning conditions imposed by the County Council to control and regulate the development, the applicant may appeal against the imposition of the conditions;
- If the applicant concludes that the County Council are taking too long to deal with their application then they may appeal against the Council's failure to either approve or refuse their application. Such appeals are called appeals against non-determination.
Time limits
There are time limits for appeals. An appeal against refusal of permission or the imposition of conditions must be lodged within six months of the date of the decision ie the date on the decision notice.
Appeals against non-determination must be lodged within six months of the date that the application was declared valid. Normally the validation date is two days after the application was submitted here at Warwickshire.
Appeals against non-determination can only be made eight weeks after the date on which the application was declared valid or 16 weeks after that date in the case of applications requiring environmental assessments.
Appealing
Only the applicant in whose name the application was made has a right to appeal. Other interested parties cannot lodge appeals against the council's decisions. However, once an appeal is lodged all representations received by the council during the processing of the planning application will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration and assessment by the Inspector.
Interested parties who have made representation on the planning application will be notified of the receipt of the appeal and will therefore have an opportunity to make further representations if they so wish.
If third parties wish to know the outcome of an appeal they must write to the Planning Inspectorate and ask to be informed of the decision. Appellants and the council will automatically be informed of any decision made.
How to appeal
Appeals must be made on forms which may be obtained from:
The Planning Inspectorate Customer Support Unit Temple Quay Bristol BS1 6PN
Telephone:
0117 372 6372
Website:
www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk
Next steps
Once an appeal has been declared valid by The Planning Inspectorate, the Secretary of State will appoint an Inspector to deal with the case. He or she will ultimately determine the case on behalf of the Secretary of State or will advise the Secretary of State how they consider the case should be determined. Appeals are either upheld ie approved or dismissed ie refused.
Types of appeals
There are three types of appeals:
- Written representations
- Hearings
- Public inquiries
Written representations are best suited to relatively straight forward cases, whilst public inquiries are best reserved for the most complex issues where there is a lot of public interest. It is however the appellant's choice which route to take.
Written representations are dealt with by the exchange of documentation and by a site visit by the Inspector accompanied by the appellants and representatives of the council.
At hearings and public inquiries the parties to the appeal (the appellant, the council and interested parties) are able to present their cases in person.
More information
For further information please visit the Planning Inspectorate web site or contact a Warwickshire County Council planning officer.
Telephone:
01926 412645
Email:
