Withdrawing a planning appeal and what follows

Withdrawing a planning appeal is straightforward to do and easy to get wrong. You can withdraw at any point before the Inspectorate issues its decision, by giving written notice, and the case is then closed. What withdrawal does not do is wind the clock back. The refusal stands, the costs exposure you have already created does not disappear, and in most cases you will not get a second attempt at appealing that same decision notice.

When withdrawal makes sense

There are four situations where withdrawing is the right call, and one where it is usually a mistake.

The council offers to grant permission on a revised scheme, and the revision is one you are happy with. Your own evidence has turned up a problem you cannot fix, such as a highway visibility splay that cannot be achieved on land you control. The scheme has changed for reasons unconnected with planning, so the permission you are chasing is no longer the permission you want. Or the site has been sold and the buyer has a different plan.

The mistake is withdrawing because the council's statement of case looks strong. Inspectors decide these cases afresh, and a well-argued council statement is not a prediction. If the refusal reasons are weak on the policy, the appeal is still worth running, and that judgement is worth making properly rather than in reaction to a document. Working through whether a refusal reason is worth appealing before you lodge saves this decision later.

One case deserves a warning of its own. Withdrawing an appeal against an enforcement notice means the notice takes effect. The steps required by the notice then become enforceable, and non-compliance is a criminal offence. Never withdraw an enforcement appeal without advice.

How to withdraw and who to tell

The process is administrative. You give written notice to the Planning Inspectorate that you are withdrawing, quoting the appeal reference, normally through the appeals casework portal you used to submit.

Do three things at the same time.

1. Notify the local planning authority directly, rather than assuming the Inspectorate will do it promptly. The council's officer may be about to commission work you do not want to pay for.
2. Tell any interested parties you have been dealing with, including a parish council or a residents' group that has made representations, if you have had direct contact.
3. Where an inquiry or hearing has been arranged, tell the Inspectorate's case officer by telephone as well as in writing, because venues, inspectors and programme officers are booked in advance.

There is no fee to withdraw, and there is no fee to appeal in the first place. The Inspectorate will confirm the case is closed and will write to the parties. Keep that confirmation, because it is the document that proves the appeal is no longer live if a later application is challenged as overlapping.

Costs exposure at the point of withdrawal

This is the part that catches people. An appeal costs award is not automatic and is not about who wins. It is about unreasonable behaviour that has caused another party to incur expense it need not have incurred.

Costs can be applied for in appeals of any procedure, including written representations, although awards are far more common in hearings and inquiries where the other side has retained counsel and expert witnesses. National guidance treats withdrawing an appeal at a late stage without good reason as capable of amounting to unreasonable behaviour.

So the exposure rises with the calendar rather than with the merits. Withdrawing two weeks after lodging a written representations appeal carries almost no risk. Withdrawing three days before a four-day inquiry, after the council has paid for counsel, a highways witness and an acoustician, is a different position entirely.

If you know you are going to withdraw, withdraw early and say why. A short explanation of the reason, given at the point of withdrawal, is the main protection against a costs application. Where the reason is that the council has agreed a revised scheme, say that too, because a withdrawal by agreement is hard to characterise as unreasonable.

Effect on a parallel application

Many applicants run an appeal and a revised application at the same time, which is sensible on a site where time matters. Withdrawal changes the position in one useful way.

While an appeal is undetermined, the council has a power under section 70B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to decline to determine an application that is similar to one already under appeal. Councils use it unevenly, but a planning officer who is preparing an appeal statement and receives a near-identical application has a statutory basis for refusing to deal with it. Withdrawing the appeal removes that ground and lets the new application proceed normally.

Do the withdrawal and the new submission in the right order. Get the revised scheme agreed in principle, submit it, confirm it has been validated, then withdraw. Withdrawing first and submitting later leaves a gap in which nothing is live, and if the council then declines to negotiate you have no route open except a fresh application on your own timetable. A Planning Statement for the revised application should explain what changed and why, because the case officer will be reading it alongside the refused scheme.

Whether you can appeal again

Treat withdrawal as final for that decision notice.

The right of appeal under section 78 attaches to a decision, and the Inspectorate's practice is that it is exercised once. Even where the six-month deadline for a non-householder appeal has not yet passed, do not assume a second appeal against the same refusal will be accepted. Householder appeals run to a shorter deadline again, which makes the point sharper.

What remains available is a fresh application. That produces a new decision notice, and a new decision notice carries a new right of appeal. The cost is time and a new application fee, and the council may reduce or waive the fee where a resubmission qualifies under the free-go provisions in the fee regulations, which are worth checking against the current schedule.

If you are unsure whether you may need to revive the appeal, ask the Inspectorate's case officer before you send the withdrawal notice. Asking costs nothing and the answer is in writing.

Timing relative to the inquiry date

For hearings and inquiries, map the withdrawal decision against the procedural milestones rather than against your own diary.

• Before statements of case are exchanged, withdrawal is low risk and low cost for everyone.
• After proofs of evidence are exchanged, the other side has paid its witnesses, and a costs application becomes realistic.
• Within a fortnight of the event, venues, transcription and counsel are usually committed and non-refundable.
• On the day, the tribunal time is wasted as well, which is the worst position to be in.

The proofs of evidence stage is the natural decision point. By then you have seen the council's full case and your own witnesses have tested your argument, so if the appeal is not going to succeed, that is when to say so. Waiting for a late concession that never arrives is how applicants end up with a costs award. The same discipline applies to how the case is built in the first place, which is why a statement of case an inspector can use matters more than the volume of material behind it.

Negotiated withdrawals and undertakings

A negotiated withdrawal is the best outcome available from a failing appeal, and it needs to be documented.

What you want is something more than an officer's encouraging email. A delegated decision on a revised application, a committee resolution to grant subject to conditions and a section 106, or a signed agreement recording what the council will do, all give you something to rely on. An officer cannot bind a planning committee, and an assurance that the revised scheme "should be acceptable" is not a consent.

Where a section 106 obligation is part of the deal, get the heads of terms agreed and the draft circulated before you withdraw. Obligations take longer to complete than anyone expects, and an appeal withdrawn on the strength of an unsigned draft leaves you with no fallback. Where new material was going to be introduced on appeal, note that the same evidence may be treated differently in an application, a point covered in new evidence at appeal and when it is refused.

Put the agreement in writing, note the date, and keep the correspondence with the withdrawal confirmation. If the council later changes position, that file is the only thing that helps you.

PlanScope drafts the Planning Statement and supporting reports for a resubmission from your site details and your answers, with "TO BE CONFIRMED" flags where a figure is missing. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a revised scheme is likely to need.