Following publication on 12 February 2018 of
the Report and
Recommendations into the Independent Review of Planning
Appeal Inquiries, we have started looking into ways
of implementing some of the recommendations, pending
the Secretary of State’s consideration of the full
Report. We have therefore begun a trial of accelerating
a small number of inquiry appeals as part of a pilot of
holding inquiries much earlier than at present, and we
are starting to work with those appellants and the
local planning authorities involved with the appeals.
This moves away from our “bespoke” process whereby we
invite the parties to agree a programme, including an
inquiry date.
Because this is a pilot, and is very much in its
infancy, we can only conduct a small number of cases in
this way, and most will continue to follow our bespoke
process. Also, it involves only inquiry appeals where
we are satisfied at the outset that an inquiry is the
most appropriate procedure. We will therefore be
selecting candidate appeals from those received and
will liaise with the parties. In the meantime, should
prospective appellants wish to be involved, they are
free to get in touch with us through our general
enquiry line, but the final decision on which appeals
to run within the pilot will be ours.
This is the first step in implementing a significant
change in the way planning appeal inquiries are
conducted and the process cannot be changed overnight,
nor can we “bring forward” inquiries already arranged.
We hope all parties will understand this and continue
to work with us, whether or not “their” appeal is part
of the pilot.
