The Planning Inspectorate greatly welcomes the findings of
Bridget Rosewell CBE, Independent Review of Planning Appeal
Inquiries.
We are encouraged by the practical, common sense nature of the
recommendations which promise to lead not only to much faster
decisions but also to radically improve the experience of
customers. Crucial to this is the introduction of an overhauled
appeal portal which we anticipate will be ready by the end of
2019.
To put us in the best possible place to achieve the ambitions of
the report we are trialling the new approach on several Inquiries
and are in the process of scaling up these operations. From the
experience gained through the trial we have already made
practical improvements and are continuously updating our
approach. It is also giving us confidence in the forward planning
for the remainder of the implementation phase. At the same time,
it has underlined the size of the challenge and that there isn’t
a quick fix. Rather a sizable transition period is likely to be
needed – depending not only on the number of Inquiries coming
forward over this year but also the level of demand from all
other case work, local plan and nationally significant
infrastructure project submissions. We are committed to improving
our performance radically across all casework areas and
delivering to challenging timescales.
We are proud to have already developed working versions of
several good practice documents which we have published alongside
this report. The key learning from producing these and our
experience gathered through the pilot to date is that the
suggested approach can also benefit other planning casework
areas. It is therefore our intention to roll out this approach
more widely over time. As Bridget has pointed out in her Review,
for the reforms to have maximum effect all parties involved with
planning Inquiries will need to adjust their approach. We hope
that this Action Plan provides the clear direction and impetus in
making this culture change come to life.
Sarah Richards
Chief Executive
The Planning Inspectorate
