Planning appeals

Making an appeal

You have the right to appeal if you're seeking consent or permission to carry out particular works to your property or land (such as building an extension or a new house) and your application:

• is not decided within a set period (usually 8 weeks for minor, other and householder applications and 13 weeks for major applications, without an agreed extension of time)
• is refused by the local authority
• is granted subject to conditions you do not agree with.

Appeals are made to the Secretary of State. The Planning Inspectorate (based in Bristol) administers these appeals. Only the original applicant can make an appeal. There's no right of appeal for interested people or organisations (known as 'third parties') that may be aggrieved by a planning decision. 

You can also appeal if the local planning authority has served you with an Enforcement Notice. Details on how to appeal against the service of an Enforcement Notice will be contained within the Notice.

How to make an appeal

Appeals must be made directly to the Planning Inspectorate from the Government Service and Information website.

You'll also find helpful information about how to appeal and the time frames to submit an appeal on the Decision Notice we send you.

What happens next?

When we receive confirmation of an appeal, we'll notify, in writing, all those that were originally consulted on the application, or that made representations, or who may be affected by the development. The written notification will include details of how to make further representations and the deadline for submissions. 

All correspondence relating to appeals must be sent directly to the Planning Inspectorate.

View submitted appeals and decisions

You'll find details of submitted appeals and copies of appeal decision letters (from May 2003) on the Planning Inspectorate's search on the Planning Portal.

Alternatives to appealing

If you do not agree with our decision, you can talk to the Planning Officer to discuss where you could make changes to make your application acceptable.  

In most cases, if it's your 1st re-submission of a planning application, there will not be a fee.

Please check the planning application fee guidance for further information on exemptions.

Depending on the application type, appeals can take several weeks, sometimes months, to decide so a new planning application may be faster.