A planning appeal in England goes through seven stages, from reading the decision notice to the Inspector's decision. Most appeals are now decided on written evidence alone, and half are decided within about 18 weeks of being validated.
This guide explains each stage, the deadlines you must meet and how long each part takes. The process changed for applications made on or after 1 April 2026, and those changes make preparation before you submit far more important than it used to be. If you would rather have someone handle it for you, our planning appeal consultants can review your refusal and tell you honestly whether an appeal is worth pursuing.
The planning appeal process at a glance
1. Read the decision notice and decide whether to appeal or reapply. 2. Check your deadline. 3. Prepare your full case. 4. Submit the appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. 5. The Inspectorate validates it, sets a start date and chooses the procedure. 6. The Inspector visits the site. 7. The Inspector issues a decision.
Stage 1: Read the decision notice and decide whether to appeal
Every refusal comes with a decision notice listing the council's reasons for refusal. These reasons define the appeal: the Inspector will focus on the main issues they raise, so your case has to answer each one.
Before appealing, ask whether a revised application would be quicker. If the refusal turns on one fixable point, such as a missing flood risk assessment or a roof that is slightly too tall, a new application addressing it may succeed faster than an appeal. If the council has misread its own policies, given too little weight to material considerations or refused something that causes no real harm, an appeal is usually the better route.
You can also appeal if the council has not decided your application within the statutory period (a non-determination appeal), or if you object to conditions attached to a permission.
Stage 2: Check your appeal deadline
Deadlines are strict. The Planning Inspectorate will not accept a late appeal, whatever the reason. For applications made on or after 1 April 2026, the time limits are:
| Type of appeal | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Householder application refused | 12 weeks from the date on the decision notice |
| Minor commercial application refused | 12 weeks from the date on the decision notice |
| Other planning and listed building applications refused | 6 months from the date on the decision notice |
| Advertisement consent refused | 8 weeks from the date on the decision notice |
| Non-determination (no decision made in time) | 6 months from the end of the period the council had to decide |
| An enforcement notice has been served on the same development | 28 days from the date on the decision notice |
If you have received an enforcement notice, the notice itself carries a separate appeal deadline, which must be met before the date the notice takes effect. See our enforcement appeals page.
Stage 3: Prepare your full case before you submit
This is the stage that changed most in April 2026. Under the standard written representations procedure, you must present your full case when you submit the appeal. There is no later opportunity to add arguments, and you cannot introduce new evidence the council has not already seen, except in exceptional circumstances such as a material change in national policy or a relevant court judgment.
In practice, your appeal is won or lost on the quality of what you submit on day one. A strong submission usually includes:
- a statement of case that takes each reason for refusal in turn and explains why it is wrong or can be overcome;
- the relevant Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework policies, applied to your site;
- the site's planning history and any comparable appeal decisions nearby;
- the plans and supporting reports submitted with the application;
- any conditions you would accept, so the Inspector can see how harm could be controlled.
Our guide on how to win a planning appeal covers what Inspectors look for in more detail.
Stage 4: Submit the appeal
Appeals are made online through the Planning Inspectorate's appeal service on GOV.UK. You will need the appeal form, a copy of the original application and plans, the decision notice and your statement of case. There is no fee to lodge a planning appeal in England.
Stage 5: Validation, start date and choice of procedure
Once the appeal is valid, the Inspectorate sets a start date and decides which procedure it will follow. You and the council can say which you prefer, but the Inspectorate makes the final choice. There are three procedures:
- Written representations: the Inspector decides on the documents and a site visit. This covers the large majority of appeals, including almost all householder appeals.
- Hearing: a round-table discussion led by the Inspector, used where issues need to be explored in conversation.
- Inquiry: a formal procedure with evidence given by witnesses and cross-examination, usually reserved for large or complex schemes.
Most new appeals follow the part 1 written representations procedure. The council must send its questionnaire within 5 working days of the start date, and neighbours and other interested parties cannot comment at appeal stage; their comments on the original application are passed to the Inspector instead.
Some appeals are moved to a part 2 written representations procedure. Here the council sends its questionnaire within one week of the start date, interested parties can comment within 5 weeks, and you and the council can respond with final comments within 7 weeks.
Stage 6: The site visit
The Inspector usually visits the site. Where it can be seen properly from public land, the visit is unaccompanied and you will not be told the date. If access is needed, the visit is accompanied, but the parties are only there to provide access and cannot discuss the case.
Stage 7: The Inspector's decision
Decisions are issued in writing as a decision letter. The Inspector can:
- allow the appeal, which grants planning permission (usually with conditions);
- dismiss the appeal, so the council's refusal stands;
- in some cases, issue a split decision, allowing part of a proposal and dismissing the rest.
How long does a planning appeal take?
Timescales depend on the procedure. The Planning Inspectorate's latest figures, covering July 2025 to June 2026, give these median times from a valid appeal to a decision:
| Procedure | Median time to decision |
|---|---|
| Written representations | 18 weeks |
| Hearings | 23 weeks |
| Inquiries | 26 weeks |
Half of appeals take longer than these figures, and the clock only starts once the appeal is valid. Add the time needed to prepare your case beforehand. Source: Planning Inspectorate statistics, August 2026.
Costs
Each side normally pays its own costs. The Inspector can award costs against either the council or the appellant if one of them has behaved unreasonably and caused the other unnecessary expense, for example by refusing an application without good reason or by pursuing an appeal with no reasonable prospect of success.
What if the appeal is dismissed?
The decision is final on its planning merits. It can only be challenged in the High Court on legal grounds, and a challenge must be made within 6 weeks of the decision.
A dismissed appeal is not always the end of a project. The decision letter is a material consideration for any future application, and Inspectors often say which parts of a proposal they found acceptable. If the only concern was, for example, the ridge height of a replacement dwelling, a revised scheme addressing that point has a much stronger chance.
Applications made before 1 April 2026
Appeals against decisions on applications made before 1 April 2026 follow the previous procedure, which allows more opportunity to add comments during the appeal. Our article on recent changes to the appeal system explains the differences.
Get help with your planning appeal
Cedar Planning's chartered town planners prepare appeal statements and manage appeals for homeowners, landowners and developers across England. We will read your decision notice, tell you plainly whether an appeal is likely to succeed and give you a fixed-fee quote before you commit. See our planning appeal services or, for extensions and loft conversions, our householder planning appeals service.
Source for procedures and deadlines: Planning appeals: procedural guide (GOV.UK).
Dan Malloy MRTPIDirector and Chartered Town Planner at Cedar Planning, with more than ten years of public and private-sector planning experience. About Cedar Planning
