Applying direct to the Planning Inspectorate under section 62A

A section 62A application lets you take a planning application straight to the Planning Inspectorate, bypassing the council entirely. The route only exists where the Secretary of State has designated that local planning authority as underperforming, and designation is a formal published act rather than a matter of opinion about how slow your case officer has been.

Section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, inserted by the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013, is the source. Designations are published on GOV.UK, and the list is short. Check it before anyone spends time on this, because an application made under section 62A to an authority that is not designated goes nowhere.

What designation means

The Secretary of State assesses local planning authorities against published criteria covering the speed of decisions and the quality of them. Speed is measured as the proportion of applications determined within the statutory period or an agreed extension. Quality is measured as the proportion of decisions overturned on appeal.

Designation can apply to major development, to non-major development, or to both, and the categories operate separately. An authority designated for majors is not thereby designated for householder applications.

The thresholds have moved over time and the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 made further changes to the designation regime. Check the current criteria and the current designation list on GOV.UK rather than relying on what was true a year or two ago.

Designation is not permanent. Authorities are reassessed, and an authority that improves is de-designated, which means the route can close while your application is being prepared.

Which applications can use the route

The application must be of a description covered by the designation. If the authority is designated for major development, you may use section 62A for a major application, and not for anything else.

Connected applications can follow the main one under section 62B, which covers things such as listed building consent tied to the same development. Some application types are outside the route altogether, and the Order made under section 62A sets out the detail.

The choice is yours, not mandatory. An applicant in a designated area can still apply to the council in the ordinary way, and most do, because the relationship with the authority usually matters more than the timescale.

How the application is made

The application goes to the Secretary of State, in practice to the Planning Inspectorate, on the prescribed form and with the prescribed documents. The fee is paid to the Secretary of State rather than the council, and it is set by the fee regulations in the same way.

Assemble the same evidence base you would for a normal submission. The Inspectorate applies the same national and local validation expectations, and a thin Planning Statement is no more acceptable here than it would be at the council. If anything the documentation needs to be better, because there is no officer relationship to fill gaps through informal correspondence.

The local planning authority is consulted and provides local information, including its view on the development plan, local constraints and the conditions or obligations it would want. The council also usually carries out local publicity. So the authority is not absent from the process. It simply is not the decision maker.

Procedure and timescales

An inspector determines the application, and the procedure is chosen from written representations, a hearing or an inquiry according to the complexity of the case, in the same way the Inspectorate allocates appeals.

Time savings are not guaranteed. The Inspectorate has its own caseload, and a major application requiring a hearing can take as long as a council determination followed by an extension of time. Weigh the route against the alternative of applying normally and appealing non-determination if the council misses the statutory period, which produces a similar outcome by a more conventional path.

Publicity requirements are the same in substance: neighbour notification, site notices, press advertisement where required for major development. Our note on publicity for major development sets out what has to happen and when.

Consultation with statutory consultees runs as normal. The Environment Agency, Natural England, the lead local flood authority, National Highways and the county archaeologist all respond to the Inspectorate rather than the council, and their objections carry the same weight they would in an ordinary determination. Budget the same time for resolving them.

Extensions of time work differently too. There is no officer with whom to agree a rolling extension while a drainage point is sorted out, so unresolved technical objections are more likely to be determined against you than parked. Resolve them before you submit.

What you give up

The risks are real and they are mostly about what the route removes rather than what it adds.

• There is no pre-application dialogue with the decision maker. Pre-app with the council remains useful, but the council is not deciding.
• There is no negotiation during determination. An officer who would have asked for a revised layout instead files a consultation response, and the inspector decides on what is in front of them.
• There is no committee, so there is no opportunity to address members, which cuts both ways.
• A section 106 agreement still needs the local authority as a party, because it is the body that will enforce the obligations. Securing that agreement without the pressure of an imminent decision can be slow.
• There is no right of appeal against the decision. An appeal exists because a council refused. Here the Inspectorate has decided at first instance, so the only route is a statutory challenge in the High Court on a point of law.

That last point deserves weight. A refusal by a council costs you six months and a fee, and the appeal is a full merits rehearing. A refusal under section 62A is effectively final unless the inspector erred in law.

Checking designation and deciding

Before going any further:

1. Find the current designation list on GOV.UK and confirm the authority is designated for the category your application falls into.
2. Check when the list was last updated and when the next assessment is due, since de-designation would close the route.
3. Read the criteria to understand why the authority was designated. An authority designated on quality rather than speed is a different proposition, since your concern may be the opposite of the problem.
4. Get the section 106 conversation started with the council early, independently of the application route.
5. Compare honestly against applying normally with a realistic extension of time.

The route also does nothing about the wider programme. Designation says something about the authority's determination statistics, not about how quickly its highway colleagues respond to a technical query or how long a section 106 takes to engross. Those parts of the timetable are unchanged.

One honest uncertainty: use of the route has been low, and there is little accumulated practice to draw on for any given authority. That is a reason for caution on a complex scheme and less of a concern on a straightforward one where the evidence is complete and the policy position is clear.

If your problem is council delay rather than council hostility, there are other tools. Running a duplicate application in parallel is one, and the circumstances where that helps are set out in our piece on twin-tracking.

Browse the 66 PlanScope report types to assemble the evidence base before you choose your route.

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