Time taken to decide an appeal can vary from month to month as the amount of appeals that are received can fluctuate. This in turn affects the time it takes to validate or start a case. However, below is a guide that has been published in October 2019 by the Government as to how much time you can expect to wait.
| Planning Appeal | Valid Appeal to Decision |
| Written representations | 25 weeks |
| Hearings | 42 weeks |
| Inquiries | 34 weeks |
| Householder Appeal | |
| Written representations | 15 weeks |
| Enforcement Appeal | |
| Written representations | 43 weeks |
| Hearings | 64 weeks |
| Inquiries | 69 weeks |
Appeal Stages
- Receipt to validation – once an appeal has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, certain checks are undertaken to ensure it is valid. Provided all the documentation is submitted with the initial appeal, the validation stage will take 1-2 weeks.
- Validation to start – when validated, a suitable Inspector is identified to decide the appeal which, depending on the type of appeal and procedure, can vary the time it takes.
- Start to event – the Inspector will write with a timetable for the appeal, which will include deadlines for the submission of representations and support documents. It is at this stage that the Inspector will conduct a site visit, a hearing or an inquiry.
- Event to decision – Based on the evidence submitted, the Inspector will make the final decision and will notify accordingly.
At Bloomfields we continually monitor the timescales of our appeals and ensure that our clients are kept informed throughout the process. If you have recently had an application refused and/or are considering any form of planning appeal, please do feel free to call Bloomfields for an initial review of the circumstances before proceeding with this.
