Planning appeals in Wales: procedure, deadlines and costs

A planning appeal in Wales is not an English appeal with different letterhead. Appeals are determined by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales on behalf of the Welsh Ministers, the procedure is chosen by the appellate body rather than by you, and your full case has to be submitted with the appeal form instead of being developed later. Consultants who work either side of the border get caught by the third of those more than the first two.

This article is about Wales. The policy framework is Planning Policy Wales and Future Wales: The National Plan 2040, not the National Planning Policy Framework.

Who decides a planning appeal in Wales

Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, usually shortened to PEDW, handles planning appeals, called-in applications, Developments of National Significance and a range of environmental casework. It was created in 2021 to bring that work together under one Welsh body. Most appeals are decided by an inspector under delegated powers. A smaller set is recovered for decision by the Welsh Ministers, typically where the proposal raises issues of more than local importance.

The statutory right of appeal still sits in section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which applies across England and Wales. What has diverged is almost everything procedural around it, through the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 and the Welsh procedural regulations made under it.

The deadline, and why it is the first thing to check

For most refusals of planning permission the appeal must be made within six months of the date on the decision notice. Shorter periods apply to several categories, including householder and minor commercial appeals, advertisement consent and enforcement notices, where an enforcement appeal has to be made before the notice takes effect.

Those shorter windows are the ones people miss, and the categories do not map neatly onto the English equivalents. Check the current deadline for your appeal type on the PEDW pages at gov.wales before you diarise anything. PEDW has no discretion to extend the statutory period, and an appeal lodged a day late is invalid.

One practical point on non-determination appeals. The determination periods in Wales are set by the Welsh Development Management Procedure Order, and the standard periods for minor and major development differ from the English figures. Work from the Welsh order rather than from memory.

Procedure is chosen for you

Under the English system the appellant expresses a preference and the Planning Inspectorate usually follows it. In Wales the appellate body determines the procedure, and that was a deliberate change introduced by the 2015 Act. PEDW assesses the appeal against published criteria and allocates it to written representations, a hearing or an inquiry.

The criteria turn on whether the issues can be understood from written material, whether evidence needs to be tested through questioning, and whether the complexity or public interest warrants a formal inquiry. You can make representations about procedure when you appeal, and you should where the case really does need cross-examination. But the decision is not yours.

The budget consequence is obvious. A consultant who has priced an appeal on the assumption of written representations and is allocated an inquiry has a difficult conversation ahead.

Your full case goes in with the appeal form

This is the change that trips up cross-border practices. The Welsh system is front-loaded. The appellant's full statement of case, with all supporting documents and evidence, is submitted at the point of appeal. The local planning authority then responds with its own full case, and interested parties get their chance.

There is no later window in which to produce the survey you had not commissioned, the viability evidence you had not finished, or the amended drawings you meant to prepare. New material submitted after the deadline may simply not be taken into account.

So the preparation sequence inverts. Before you lodge, you need the appeal statement, the policy analysis against Planning Policy Wales and the adopted Local Development Plan, the technical evidence answering each refusal reason, and anything that deals with conditions in the alternative. A well-structured Planning Statement prepared for the original application does most of the heavy lifting, which is an argument for writing a proper one at application stage even on a small scheme.

Statements, timetables and the Welsh language

Once the appeal is valid, PEDW issues a timetable. For written representations that is a short cycle of exchanges followed by a site visit. For hearings and inquiries it sets dates for statements of common ground, proofs of evidence, the pre-hearing or pre-inquiry arrangements and the event itself.

Welsh language rights matter here and are frequently overlooked by English firms. Parties and witnesses may use Welsh at a hearing or inquiry, and PEDW provides translation. Documents may be submitted in either language. Where the development's effect on the Welsh language is a planning consideration under Planning Policy Wales, that assessment belongs in your statement rather than being raised for the first time at the event.

Site visits are unaccompanied where the site can be seen adequately from public land, and accompanied where internal access is needed. Say clearly in the appeal form which applies and who holds the key.

Costs and unreasonable behaviour

Each party normally bears its own costs. An award can be made where a party has behaved unreasonably and caused another party to incur expense that would otherwise have been avoided, and the principles are close to the English ones even though the guidance is Welsh. The familiar grounds apply: refusing without planning reasons, failing to produce evidence to support a reason for refusal, withdrawing a reason late, or pursuing an appeal with no prospect of success.

Applications for costs are made before the close of the hearing or inquiry, or in writing within the timetable for a written representations appeal. Leaving it until the decision arrives is too late.

What English practice gets wrong in Wales

Four things, in order of how often they cause damage.

1. Assuming the appellant chooses the procedure. Plan and price for the possibility that PEDW allocates something more formal.
2. Holding evidence back. The Welsh system has no equivalent of the English habit of developing the case through statements and proofs.
3. Citing the National Planning Policy Framework. It has no application in Wales. The tests come from Planning Policy Wales, Future Wales and the adopted Local Development Plan, and citing the wrong framework damages your credibility with the inspector before the merits are reached.
4. Reusing English determination periods and appeal deadlines from a template.

The same caution applies to drafted documents. PlanScope's report drafting is grounded in English policy, so a Welsh application or appeal statement needs the national policy references checked and replaced by whoever reviews the draft. Devolved content is not an English document with the nation name swapped, and nor is an appeal statement. For a sense of how differently each devolved system is built, our note on the hierarchy of developments in Scotland covers a third approach again.

If you are preparing a Welsh appeal now, start by listing every refusal reason and the single piece of evidence that answers it, because that list has to be complete on the day you lodge. You can browse the report types by category to identify the technical evidence your statement will need to carry.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, 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.