Free go resubmission or appeal: choosing between them

After a refusal you have two routes and they run on different clocks. A free go planning resubmission is a further application on the same site, for development of the same character, made by the same applicant within 12 months, for which the fee regulations waive the fee. An appeal is a challenge to the decision itself, decided by an inspector rather than by the council.

The short version. If the refusal reason can be designed out, resubmit. If it is a disagreement about policy or judgement, appeal. And whichever you choose, diarise the appeal deadline first, because it does not pause while a resubmission is being considered.

What the fee exemption for resubmission covers

The exemption sits in the planning fees regulations rather than in policy, and the conditions are precise.

The further application has to be made by or on behalf of the same applicant, for development of the same character or description, on the same site as the earlier application. It has to be submitted within 12 months of the decision on that earlier application, or of the expiry of the period for determining it. And the exemption is available once in respect of any one earlier application.

Read the current regulations and the council's own fee guidance before assuming it applies. Authorities publish their interpretation, particularly on what counts as the same character or description, and getting that wrong means an invalid application rather than a free one.

The conditions attached to a free resubmission

Three practical points that catch people.

The exemption covers the fee, not the other costs. Revised drawings, an updated Planning Statement, a fresh survey where one has expired and, on some schemes, a new consultant report all still have to be paid for. On a householder scheme the fee is often the smallest line in the budget.

It is one free go, not an unlimited series. A second resubmission after a second refusal is chargeable.

And a substantially different scheme is not the same character or description. If the response to the refusal is a redesign large enough to change what is being proposed, the exemption may not apply, which is an argument worth having with the council before submitting rather than after.

When the refusal reason can be designed out

Look at the refusal notice and ask a blunt question about each reason: is this about something I can change on a drawing?

Refusals about the depth of a rear extension, the position of a window causing overlooking, the materials of an extension in a conservation area, the loss of a parking space, or a bin store that will not work are all capable of being answered by a revised scheme. So are most refusals that turn on missing information, though those are better answered by supplying it.

Where the officer's report says the scheme would be acceptable if a particular change were made, that is an invitation. Take it, make the change, and say in the covering letter exactly which paragraph of the report you are responding to.

Resubmission also preserves the relationship with the case officer, which matters more on a small scheme than people admit.

One caution on missing information. Where the refusal was for want of a survey or a report, supplying it with a resubmission works, and it is worth checking whether the council would have accepted it during the original application. Some authorities refuse rather than wait; others will agree an extension of time. Knowing which you are dealing with changes how you handle the next application on that site.

When the refusal reason is a policy disagreement

Some refusals cannot be designed out because the objection is to the principle.

A refusal on the basis that the site is outside the settlement boundary, that the use is unacceptable in that location, that the development is inappropriate in the Green Belt, or that harm to a heritage asset outweighs the benefits, is a disagreement about judgement. Redrawing the scheme does not answer it, and a resubmission of a similar scheme usually produces the same decision with the same reasons.

That is appeal territory. An inspector applies their own judgement to the same policy, and on matters of planning balance inspectors and councils reach different conclusions often enough to make the appeal worthwhile.

Be honest about which category you are in. The expensive mistake is resubmitting twice against a policy objection and only then appealing, having lost a year.

Time comparison between the two routes

A resubmission runs on the ordinary determination clock: eight weeks for a minor or householder application, 13 for a major, subject to any agreed extension. Add drawing time before submission.

An appeal takes longer. Householder appeals use an expedited written procedure and are among the quickest. Other written representations appeals run through a set exchange of statements before a site visit and a decision, and hearings and inquiries take longer again. The full sequence is set out in the guide to written representations appeals and the full timetable, and the choice between procedures is covered in the note on written reps, hearing or inquiry.

Deadlines differ too. Householder and minor commercial appeals run to a much shorter deadline than the six months available for most other appeals, so check which applies to your refusal on the day it arrives.

Risk of a second refusal

A resubmission is not a formality. The council can refuse again, for the same reason or for a new one, and a second refusal on a scheme that was amended to address the first is worse evidence at appeal than a single refusal would have been.

Manage that risk by testing the amendment with the case officer before submitting. Most officers will say whether a revised approach addresses their reason, and a short email confirming that is worth having.

Also check that nothing has changed underneath you. A new local plan, a fresh Article 4 direction or a newly adopted supplementary document can introduce a refusal reason that did not exist first time round.

Keeping the appeal option open

The point most people miss: a resubmission does not extend the deadline for appealing the original refusal.

The two run in parallel. You can submit a fresh application and lodge an appeal against the earlier refusal, and appellants do this routinely where the appeal deadline falls before the resubmission will be decided. The appeal can be withdrawn later if the new application succeeds.

That belt-and-braces approach costs the appeal preparation and it removes the risk of losing the appeal right while waiting. On a householder scheme where the appeal deadline is short, it is often the only way to keep both routes alive.

There is a third option worth naming, which is neither of these. Where the refusal turns on a point of detail that the council would accept, and the permission has not yet been refused for long, some authorities will discuss a revised scheme informally before anything is submitted. That is not a formal route and it costs a pre-application fee, and on a scheme with one narrow refusal reason it often produces the quickest answer of the three.

Whichever route you take, deal with the refusal reasons in the order the council wrote them and refer to them by number. An officer picking up a resubmission wants to see that each reason has been answered, and an inspector reading an appeal statement wants the same thing. Documents organised around the applicant's preferred narrative rather than around the refusal notice make both jobs harder.

Two final points. Costs can be awarded at appeal where a party has behaved unreasonably, including where a council has refused without substantiating its reasons, so a refusal with thin reasoning strengthens the appeal case. And if the appeal is allowed, the conditions the inspector imposes become the ones you build to, which is covered in the note on conditions imposed by an inspector after an appeal is allowed.

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.