From 1 April 2026 most planning applications made to local
planning authorities will follow a new, simpler route if they are
appealed and decided via written representations.
Regulations laid by government in February 2026 brought about
this change in approach to keep decisions local and provide a
quicker route for appeals.
We shared the initial details of this
faster, simplified approach in June and followed up with
our procedural
guide when the regulations had been laid.
Under the new process the majority of written
representation appeals will accept only the evidence put before
the local planning authority during application. This will not
only speed up appeals but will also, importantly, encourage a
full body of evidence to be provided at application stage, giving
local planning authorities the information they need to make
decisions - aligning with universal planning principles of
keeping decisions local.
Appellants will be able to indicate which procedure
they consider most appropriate, along with
their reasoning, during the appeal process.
The procedure (written representation, hearing or
inquiry) an appeal follows is decided by the Planning
Inspectorate using the same criteria as
before, and the suitability of the procedure will remain
under review throughout the appeal. We will continue to publish
data on the volumes following each route
in our quarterly performance
statistics.
The Planning Inspectorate remains committed
to maintaining a fair planning system where all appeals
are carefully considered against local and national planning
policies.
For further details about the process, please read
the updated procedure
guide.
As this only applies to applications made from 1 April 2026, we
will maintain both the current and updated procedures
guides until such a time as the current guidance is no longer
relevant.
