Written representations appeal: documents and deadlines

The written representations appeal documents you need are short in number and unforgiving on timing. For a householder refusal you have 12 weeks from the date on the decision notice to lodge the appeal, and the grounds have to go in with the form because you will not get a second chance to argue the case. For most other refusals the limit is six months. Miss either and the Planning Inspectorate cannot accept the appeal, whatever the merits.

Only the applicant can appeal. A neighbour who dislikes an approval has no appeal right at all, and the route there is judicial review or nothing.

The deadline that binds you and the procedure that follows

Article 37 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 sets the limits. Twelve weeks from the decision notice for a householder appeal, eight weeks for advertisement consent, and six months for everything else, including a refusal of full planning permission, a refusal of listed building consent and an appeal against conditions. Where the council never decided at all, the six months runs from the day the determination period expired.

You state a preferred procedure on the form, but the Inspectorate decides. Written representations is the default and handles the large majority of appeals. Hearings are used where an Inspector needs to test evidence through discussion, and inquiries where evidence needs cross-examination. Householder and minor commercial appeals run through their own fast service, always on written representations, and that service allows no statements beyond the grounds submitted with the form.

There is no fee to appeal.

What goes in with the appeal form

Lodge the appeal through the Appeals Casework Portal. The pack is a fixed list, and the Inspectorate will reject an incomplete submission rather than chase you for the missing item.

1. The completed appeal form, with the correct appeal type selected.
2. A copy of the original application form and the site location plan with the red line as submitted.
3. Copies of the plans and drawings that were before the council, numbered as the council numbered them.
4. The decision notice, or evidence of the date the determination period expired.
5. Your grounds of appeal, or full statement of case where the procedure allows one.
6. Any supporting documents that formed part of the application, such as the planning statement or design and access statement.
7. For a householder appeal, confirmation that you have sent a copy to the council.

Send the scheme that was refused. Appeals are decided on the proposal the council considered, and an Inspector can only accept an amended drawing where the change is minor enough that nobody is prejudiced by not having been consulted on it. A redesign belongs in a fresh application, not in an appeal.

Writing grounds that answer the refusal reasons

Take the decision notice and work through it reason by reason. Each numbered reason cites development plan policies and usually a paragraph of national policy, so each answer needs to reach the same policy and explain why the proposal complies with it or why the harm identified is outweighed.

Three habits separate grounds that work from grounds that do not. Quote the policy wording rather than summarising it, because Inspectors check. Deal with the officer's strongest point first instead of burying it. And where a fact is in dispute, put the evidence in the appeal documents rather than asserting it, since there is no later stage at which you can supply a missing survey.

Do not spend the statement complaining about how the council behaved. That belongs in a costs application, which is a separate document with a separate test.

What the council supplies

Within days of the start date the council returns an appeal questionnaire. It carries the material the Inspector will read alongside your case: the officer's report, the decision notice, the relevant extracts from the adopted local plan and any supplementary planning documents, the consultation responses from highways, drainage, conservation or environmental health, and the representations made by neighbours at application stage.

Read the officer report carefully when it arrives. It often reveals that one refusal reason was the officer's recommendation and another was added by members at committee, and those two carry different evidential weight at appeal.

On a householder appeal, interested parties cannot write in again. Their original comments are forwarded by the council, which is why a neighbour who objected in one line at application stage stays at one line.

The timetable after the start date

The Inspectorate issues a start date letter, and that letter governs everything. It names the appeal reference, the procedure, the deadline for each remaining document and the date after which nothing further will be accepted. Diarise every date in it the day it arrives.

For a standard written representations appeal the sequence runs: questionnaire from the council, then statements from both main parties, then comments from interested parties, then a short window for final comments on what the other side said. The Inspectorate publishes the current intervals in its procedural guide for planning appeals in England, and those intervals change from time to time, so work from the start letter rather than from an old appeal you remember.

Late material is normally returned unread. Where there is a genuine reason, such as a policy adopted after the statements went in, write and ask rather than simply sending the document.

The site visit and the decision

Most written representations appeals are decided after an unaccompanied visit, where the Inspector views the site from public land. An accompanied visit is arranged where the Inspector needs to go inside, onto private land or into a neighbour's garden to judge an overlooking or daylight point.

At an accompanied visit the Inspector will not hear argument. Both parties attend, points of fact can be clarified, and that is all. Have the story poles up if levels or massing are in dispute, and make sure whoever attends has a key for the gate.

Costs applications

An award of costs is about conduct, not about who won. The test is unreasonable behaviour that put the other party to expense that need not have been incurred. Refusing against officer advice without evidence, adding a refusal reason the council then fails to defend, withdrawing at the last moment, or failing to produce the questionnaire on time are the recognised examples.

Make the application in writing, as a separate document, within the deadline set in the start letter. Set out what the unreasonable behaviour was, and show the wasted expense it caused. A general complaint that the council was slow will not succeed.

An illustrative example: a rear extension refused on a single overshadowing reason, where the council had no daylight evidence and the appellant submitted a 45-degree assessment with the appeal. If the Inspector allows the appeal and finds the refusal reason was unsupported by any analysis, that is the shape of a successful partial costs award.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Appeal deadlines are strict and the Inspectorate has no discretion to extend them, so confirm the limit that applies to your decision notice before you start drafting.

If the refusal turned on a document that was thin at application stage, you can draft a replacement in minutes and send it for professional review. Browse the report types to see which one the refusal reason points at.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.