Appealing a refused prior approval

A prior approval refusal appeal starts with a narrow question: was the council allowed to consider the thing it refused on. Prior approval is not a planning application. The authority may only assess the matters the relevant class in Schedule 2 of the GPDO 2015 prescribes, and a refusal resting on anything else is open to challenge. Read the class, list its prescribed matters, then read the decision notice against that list. The mismatch is often obvious.

What the council could lawfully consider

Each prior approval class sets its own list. The commercial to residential class asks about transport impacts, contamination risk, flood risk, noise from nearby commercial premises affecting future occupiers, the provision of adequate natural light in all habitable rooms, and in conservation areas the effect of losing a ground floor commercial use. The agricultural conversion class asks about transport and highways, noise, contamination, flooding, the location or siting making the conversion impractical or undesirable, and design or external appearance. Upward extension classes add structural matters, external appearance and impact on the amenity of the existing building and neighbours.

The lists differ, and that is the point. Design is a prescribed matter in some classes and not in others. Amenity of neighbours is prescribed in some and not in others. Affordable housing, internal space standards beyond the national standard condition, and general planning policy compliance are prescribed in none of them.

Copy the exact wording of the prescribed matters into your appeal statement. Inspectors deciding these appeals work through them one by one, and a statement structured the same way is easy to follow.

Refusals that go beyond the prescribed matters

Three patterns recur.

The first is a refusal on grounds the class does not mention: harm to the character of the area where design is not a prescribed matter, loss of employment floorspace where the class does not ask about it, or absence of amenity space. Those are straightforward appeal points, and they can also support a costs application because a refusal on a ground the authority had no power to consider is hard to defend.

The second is a prescribed matter stretched beyond its terms. Transport impacts becomes a general parking objection unsupported by survey data. Noise from commercial premises becomes concern about noise the new residents might themselves generate. Contamination becomes a demand for full remediation before permission rather than a condition.

The third is refusal for want of information. That one is usually the council's to make, because the classes require the applicant to provide specified information with the application, and an authority is entitled to refuse if it cannot assess a prescribed matter. This is the refusal that is hardest to appeal and easiest to fix by resubmitting.

The appeal route and the deadline

An appeal against refusal of prior approval is a section 78 appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, decided in the same way as any other. There is no fee.

The deadline for most prior approval refusals is six months from the date of the decision notice. Householder-scale prior approvals can fall into the expedited service with a shorter deadline, so confirm the route on the Inspectorate's appeal form before assuming six months. If the appeal is expedited, no new evidence is accepted, which changes the strategy entirely.

Written representations will almost always be the procedure. These appeals turn on documents rather than on debate, and a hearing adds months for no benefit.

One warning. The appeal is against the refusal of prior approval for the development as applied for. You cannot use the appeal to approve a different scheme, and an amended layout submitted with the appeal statement is usually disregarded.

Building the evidence for each prescribed matter

The strongest appeals answer every prescribed matter with a document, whether or not the council refused on it, because an inspector must be satisfied on all of them before approving.

Flood risk. Where the site is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, a Flood Risk Assessment addressing finished floor levels, safe access and egress, and residual risk is the answer. In Flood Zone 1 a short statement with the flood map extract usually suffices.

Noise. Where commercial premises adjoin, a Noise Impact Assessment with measured background levels and a mitigation scheme, assessed against the relevant internal noise guidance, is what environmental health will expect. Predicting from assumptions rather than measuring is the usual weakness.

Natural light. The classes that require adequate natural light in all habitable rooms are exacting about it, and a plan-based assertion is not enough. A Daylight and Sunlight Assessment covering every habitable room, with the rooms that fail identified and the design changed, is the document that wins these appeals. Rooms lit only from a lightwell or a deep single aspect are the usual casualties.

Contamination, transport and structure follow the same logic: a proportionate report from someone competent, addressed to the wording of the prescribed matter rather than to general good practice.

Deemed consent and where it stops

Several classes provide that if the authority does not notify its determination within the prescribed period, the development may proceed. The period varies by class, so check the one that applies rather than assuming eight weeks.

Deemed consent is narrower than it sounds. It only helps where the development does fall within the class in the first place, and it does not excuse compliance with any of the class's conditions and limitations. A scheme that exceeds a floorspace cap, sits on excluded land, or fails a vacancy requirement gains nothing from the council's silence.

It also depends on the application having been valid, with the fee paid and the required information supplied. Councils dispute deemed consent on exactly those grounds, and a developer relying on it without a written record of what was submitted and when is in a weak position. Where the argument matters, a lawful development certificate confirming the position is worth the fee.

Resubmit, or appeal

The choice usually resolves itself once you have classified the refusal.

Appeal where the council considered something outside the prescribed matters, where it applied a prescribed matter more widely than its wording allows, or where your evidence answered the point and the officer disagreed on judgement. In the last case an inspector may well take a different view, since these are technical rather than political questions.

Resubmit where the refusal was for want of information, where a survey you did not commission would answer the point, or where a modest design change removes the objection. A fresh prior approval application carries a fee but runs to a fixed statutory period, which is normally faster than an appeal.

Keep the supporting documents proportionate. Prior approval is a light-touch route, and burying a case officer in material designed for a full application makes the assessment slower rather than more likely to succeed.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a prior approval application is likely to need.