Refusals and Appeals
Why applications are refused, how to fix a resubmission and how the appeal routes work.
Latest in Refusals and Appeals
240 articlesRefusal on fire safety information at Gateway One
A Gateway One refusal is usually about what is missing from the drawings rather than anything wrong with the building, which makes it a drafting failure with a determination period attached.
Lapsed permissions, withdrawn appeals and the route back
There is no extension application and no revival procedure for an expired permission. What you have is a fresh application on a site with a helpful planning history.
Refusal where the development plan is out of date
The out-of-date plan argument is the most powerful move on appeal and the most frequently mishandled, because appellants assert the trigger rather than proving it.
Contamination refusals without intrusive investigation
A desk study that identifies a credible pollutant linkage and then stops can get an application refused outright. The gap is between what the report raised and what the application proved.
HMO refused for over-concentration: testing the count
Concentration refusals turn on data the council never compiled for the purpose. How to test the count address by address and answer the supporting reasons.
Front garden parking refused: hardstanding and the kerb
Two consents, two decision makers. What the permitted development condition on surfacing actually says, and why the highway authority refuses most crossings on depth.
Refused on infiltration drainage? Test the ground first
Assuming a soakaway will work is not evidence. What lead local flood authorities look for in infiltration testing, and the order to work through when the ground fails.
Refusal for harm to a scheduled monument setting
There is no statutory duty for scheduled monument settings, so the protection is policy. Here is how to assess what setting contributes and build the balance case.
Refusal on estate road and adoption standards
Estate road refusals come from the highway authority's adopted design guide. Separating safety points from adoption points is what decides whether the scheme or the appeal succeeds.
Refusal for loss of a retail frontage in a parade
Loss of retail frontage refusals turn on the adopted plan's frontage boundary and its marketing period, not on town centre impact. Here is the evidence that shifts the recommendation.
Refusal for tree loss and root protection evidence
Officers refuse for tree loss when the evidence does not show retained trees will survive, or when the layout guarantees a later felling application.
Refusal for failing the retail sequential test
A sequential test refusal means your site search did not prove no preferable site was available. How to rebuild the evidence and where the 2,500 m² threshold bites.
Appealing a refusal to approve details under a condition
Refusal of a discharge of conditions application carries a right of appeal under section 78. When to appeal, when to use deemed discharge and when section 73 is better.
When an application is invalid rather than refused
Invalidation is an administrative act, not a decision, so no appeal lies against it. The national list, the two year rule on local lists, and what to do next.
Refusal for the loss of a community facility
Policies protecting community facilities are built around marketing and viability evidence. Most appeals are decided on defects in the marketing rather than on the viability figures.
The householder appeal service and what it does not allow
Householder appeals are fast because they are narrow: twelve weeks to lodge, decided on the papers already before the council, and nothing can be added afterwards.
Appealing non-determination after the eight weeks expire
The right to appeal non-determination opens when the statutory period expires. Using it takes the application out of the council's hands, including the officer who was about to approve it.
Refusal for overdevelopment and internal space standards
A refusal citing overdevelopment is rarely about density alone. It is about unit sizes, single aspect layouts, outlook and amenity space, and only one of those is governed by a published national figure.
Refusal for inadequate daylight to the proposed flats
Poor daylight inside your own units is a design fault measured against housing quality standards. Room depth, window head height and balcony geometry are the levers that actually move the result.
Appeal evidence when the objection is highway capacity
Capacity refusals turn on whether residual cumulative impacts would be severe. Most appeals are decided on assessment years and the committed development list rather than on mitigation design.
Refusal citing the absence of a retail sequential test
A refusal for failing to carry out the retail sequential test is curable; a failed test is not. Here is when the test applies and what a defensible one contains.
Appealing a refused change of use to a nursery
A day nursery sits in Class E(f), so refusals cite amenity and highway safety rather than principle. Here is the evidence that answers each reason on appeal.
Refusal on noise from an existing business nearby
Where a scheme adjoins an established business, national policy puts the mitigation burden on the applicant. Here is how to measure the operation properly and what design responses persuade an inspector.
Ownership certificate errors and invalid applications
An incorrect ownership certificate can stop an application at validation or delay a decision. Here is what each certificate declares, who counts as an owner, and how to correct an error.
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