Guidance

Guide to taking part in planning and listed building consent appeals proceeding by an inquiry

Updated 24 January 2024

Applies to England

Guide for interested parties taking part in planning appeals and listed building consent appeals proceeding by Inquiry – England

1. Introduction

1.1. This guide explains how, if you are interested in the outcome of an appeal proceeding by an inquiry, you can make your views known.

1.2. Interested parties are also called ‘third parties’, ‘interested people’ or ‘interested persons’.

1.3. There are separate guides for planning appeals and listed building consent appeals that are proceeding by the written representations or hearing procedures.

1.4. Depending on whether you oppose or support the appeal you may wish to ask the local planning authority (LPA) or the appellant (the person making the appeal) what their positions will be at the inquiry. This will help you to decide whether your position can be represented by them without the need for you to submit your views.

1.5. An appeal in relation to a planning application is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and an appeal in relation to listed building consent is made under section 39 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (as amended).

1.6. If you need this guidance in large print, in audio format or in Braille, please contact our Customer Support Team on 0303 444 5000.

2. The decision-maker

2.1. Nearly all appeals are decided by our Inspectors. A small percentage are decided by the Secretary of State - these tend to be the very large or contentious proposals.

2.2. For further information on decision making in appeals, please see section 7 of our Planning Appeals Procedural Guide. You may wish to familiarise yourself with the content of the procedural guide.

3. The inquiry procedure

3.1. An inquiry is open to the public and provides for the investigation into, and formal testing of, evidence, usually through the questioning (“cross examination”) of expert witnesses and other witnesses. Parties may be formally represented by advocates.

3.2. The rules that cover the inquiry procedure are the Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000/1625 (as amended) and for the few appeals decided by the Secretary of State are the Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure)(England) Rules 2000/1624 (as amended). Appeals in relation to listed building consent follow the spirit of these regulations.

3.3. For further information on the inquiry procedure see section 11 in the Planning Appeals Procedural Guide

3.4. The Business and Planning Act 2020 now provides greater flexibility, allowing appeal procedures to be combined. If we have decided initially that an appeal should follow the inquiry procedure, we may subsequently also consider whether a ‘combined procedure’, with some issues dealt with by written representations might be appropriate. It is for us to decide how the combined procedure will work on a case-by-case basis.

4 How you find out about the appeal

4.1 If there is an appeal the local planning authority (LPA), usually your local council or National Park Authority, should write to everyone who:

• Was notified or consulted about the application
• Made representations about the application

4.2. The appellant must display details of the inquiry, including the time and place, on the site of the proposed development 2 weeks before the inquiry. This is the minimum publicity requirement. Your LPA may give appeals more publicity and will probably put information on its website.

4.3. If you have already written to the LPA about the application:

• it will normally write to tell you about the appeal within 1 week of us accepting the appeal
• when the arrangements have been made for the inquiry it will normally notify you when and where it will take place

5. What you can do

5.1. The LPA will send us copies of any letters of support or objection it received about the application while considering it. These will be fully considered by the Inspector who decides the appeal.

5.2. If you did not write at application stage, or you did write and now have something new to say, you can send us your representations about the appeal.

5.3. You must make sure that we receive your representations within the deadline the LPA has told you. This will normally be 5 weeks of the starting date for the appeal but may be different for some appeals. The LPA should have told you the deadline. For the full appeal timetable, see 11.1 in the Planning Appeals Procedural Guide

5.4. The 5-week deadline given in the regulations for sending representations to us is important, and everyone taking part in an appeal must follow it. If you send us representations after the end of the deadline, we will not normally accept them. We will return them to you. This means that the Inspector will not see them and will not take them into account.

5.5. You should be able to see copies of the application documents and appellant’s representations full statement of case at the council’s offices before the deadline for you to make your representations. This information will often also be available on the LPA’s website.

5.6. When you send us your representations you should include:

• your name and address
• the Planning Inspectorate appeal reference number (this will start APP/…)
• the address of the appeal site

and either say:

‘I am against the appeal proposals’ and explain whether it is for the same reasons as given by the LPA or, if not, explain your own reasons

‘I support the appeal proposals’ and explain why

5.7. Submit your representations online using the search facility. If you don’t have access to the Internet, the LPA will provide details of how to submit representations by alternative methods.

5.8. If you send us your representations in a letter, unless your handwriting is very clear it would help if you were able to have your representations typed. Please use black ink. Please note that we do not acknowledge receipt.

5.9. The Inspector can only take into account information and evidence that is relevant to the appeal. This could cover a wide range of issues, The LPA’s officers report on the application may be helpful in identifying the issues that are likely to be relevant.

5.10. We will copy your representations to the appellant and to the LPA, where they will be available for anyone to see them. You will not be sent copies of representations made by the appellant, LPA and other interested parties. These documents should be made available for inspection at the council’s offices. This information will usually also be available on the LPA’s website.

5.11. If we consider that your representations contain inflammatory, discriminatory or abusive comments, we will send them back to you before the Inspector or anyone else sees them. If you take out the inflammatory, discriminatory or abusive comments, you can send your representations back to us; but you must send them back before the 5 week deadline ends.

5.12. We do not accept anonymous representations, but you may ask for your name and address to be withheld. If you ask us to do this, you should make sure that your representations do not include any other information which may identify you. We will copy your representations, with your name and address removed, to the parties, and they will be seen by the Inspector who may give them less weight as a result.

5.13. If you indicate that you do not want us to copy your representations to the appellant and the LPA, we will return them. They will not be seen by the Inspector and, therefore, will not be taken into account. This is because the Inspector can only take into account representations which have been copied to the appellant and the LPA and are available to be seen.

6. If you send documents to support your representations

6.1. We are unable to return any documents or photographs.

You should:

• use a font such as Arial or Verdana in a size of 11 point or larger
• use A4 paper wherever possible
• number the pages of the documents
• make sure photocopied and scanned documents are clear and legible
• use black and white for documents unless colour is essential
• put any photographs (both originals and photocopies should be in colour), maps, plans and the like in a separate appendix and cross-reference them within the main body of the document
• print documents on both sides of a page - you should use paper of good enough quality that something printed on one side of the page does not show through to the other side
• ensure that the scale and orientation of any maps and plans are shown clearly - if you are sending maps or plans electronically you must tell us the paper size
• not send original documents unless we specifically ask for them.
• not include links to websites - these cannot be accepted as evidence because the information on the website may change

For further information, please see our guide to communicating electronically with us.

7. Audio/video evidence

7.1. We will return any audio/video evidence sent to us before the inquiry. You may send a written summary which will be seen by the Inspector, the appellant, and the LPA. Send this within the 5 week deadline for comments.

7.2. You may ask the Inspector at the inquiry if they are willing to accept the audio/video evidence and allow it to be played at the inquiry. It is your responsibility to contact the LPA to find out whether it has suitable equipment at the venue to access the evidence, or if it will allow you to use your own. The equipment must be suitable to play the evidence so that everyone can see/hear it.

7.3. If the evidence is accepted by the Inspector, it will become part of the inquiry evidence and will be retained by the Inspector. You will need to have 2 additional copies of the audio/video evidence available because if the Inspector allows it to be shown, these copies will be given to the LPA and the appellant.

8. Before the inquiry

8.1. Interested parties are encouraged to take part in the inquiry. Local knowledge and opinion can often be a valuable addition to the evidence given by the appellant and the LPA.

8.2. Before the inquiry, if you want to see what the appellant and the LPA have written, the LPA should make these documents available. The LPA’s and the appellant’s statements of case and the agreed statement of common ground should be available 5 weeks after the appeal start date.

For further information on the full statement of case see:

• section 12 in the planning appeals procedural guide

For further information on the statement of common ground see:

• section 13 in the planning appeals procedural guide

8.3. Inquiries are open to members of the public, and although you do not have a legal right to speak, the Inspector will normally allow you to do so. If you want to speak at an inquiry, you need to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. Some people prefer to make, or read out, a brief statement giving their views. If there are several people with the same views, it is a good idea for one person to speak on behalf of the others. A group of interested people may appoint one agent, solicitor, or barrister (who would be their advocate) - to represent them all.

8.4. If you/the group want to take a leading role in the inquiry and call your own witnesses, you should consider requesting ‘rule 6 status’. You will need to submit a statement of case and you will be sent copies of the documents sent to us by the other main parties (that is, the appellant, the LPA and any other rule 6 parties). For further information see the Guide to rule 6 status on planning appeal or called-in application for interested parties involved in an inquiry.

9. Inquiry venue

9.1. We ask the LPA to arrange the inquiry venue. We have set out the facilities that an inquiry venue should include - see our venue and facilities for public inquiries and hearings guide.

10. Virtual events

10.1. The planning Inspectorate conducts hearing/inquiries in-person with participants being physically present at a venue such as a council office or town hall or ‘virtually’ where participants connect remotely to an online video conference. In some cases, we may also be able to offer a ‘blended’ event which has both physical and virtual elements.

10.2. If the Inspector decides that the inquiry should be virtual or ‘blended’, it is the LPA’s responsibility to host the event. See our Guidance for Local Planning Authorities and other hosting virtual events for the Planning Inspectorate for further information.

11. People with disabilities

11.1. We want to hold all inquiries in buildings with proper facilities for people with disabilities. If you, or anyone you know, want to go to the inquiry and have particular needs, please contact the LPA to confirm that it can make proper arrangements.

12. Openness and transparency

12.1. Inquiries are open to journalists and the wider public, as well as interested people. Provided that it does not disrupt proceedings, anyone will be allowed to report, record and film proceedings including the use of digital and social media. Inspectors will advise people present at the start of the event that the proceedings may be recorded and/or filmed, and that anyone using social media during or after the end of the proceedings should do so responsibly.

12.2. If you want to record or film the event on equipment larger than a smart phone, tablet, compact camera, or similar you should contact us and the LPA in advance to discuss arrangements.

13. What happens at the inquiry

13.1. An inquiry is the most formal of the appeal procedures. It usually involves larger or more complicated appeals. Often expert evidence is presented, and witnesses are cross-examined (asked questions about their evidence). An inquiry may last for several days, or even weeks. It is not a court of law, but the proceedings will often seem to be quite similar. The parties may be formally represented by advocates.

13.2. The Inspector will ensure that evidence is thoroughly tested so that they can reach a properly reasoned decision.

13.3. The starting time for the first day of the inquiry will normally be 10:00, but the notification letter you receive from the LPA and the notice displayed on the site will contain the starting time for the particular inquiry so you should check this.

13.4. At the start of the inquiry the Inspector will agree the sitting times and starting times. It is often agreed that the inquiry will start at an earlier time on subsequent days. Inquiries usually sit until about 17:00 or 17:30 each day. There will usually be a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break and a 1-hour adjournment for lunch. The Inspector should not be approached during breaks because other participants in the inquiry would not know what was being said.

13.5. If you want to speak at the inquiry, it is important that you are there when it opens, because this is when the Inspector will:

• go through some routine matters
• set out the timetable and the order of proceedings
• ask if any interested people want to speak at the inquiry
• will register their names

13.6. The Inspector will then usually give an outline of what the case is about and what the main issues are.

13.7. At a long inquiry, it is difficult to predict at what stage interested people will be given the chance to speak. If you cannot stay at the inquiry all the time, tell the Inspector at the start. The Inspector will understand and will try to help, if possible, by hearing your representations at a different stage of the inquiry. However, if you wish to ask the appellant or the LPA questions, you will need to be at the inquiry when they are giving their evidence.

13.8. The Inspector decides the order of appearances at the inquiry. This will be set out in the inquiry timetable. The appellant and the LPA will usually make opening statements. The witnesses for the LPA will usually be heard before the witnesses for the appellant. After each witness for the LPA has given their evidence, the appellant will be allowed to cross-examine them. The same will apply to the witnesses for the appellant, who will be cross-examined by the LPA.

13.9. The Inspector may allow interested parties to ask questions of witnesses from the opposing side. The Inspector has the discretion to decide how that would be done. It would usually be after any cross-examination and must not repeat questions that have already been put. Any such questions must be relevant to the evidence that the witness has given.

13.10. You must make sure that your questions are relevant to the evidence the witnesses have given. You should not repeat questions that have already been asked. This is not the time for you to give your views – that will come later (see 15).

14. Re-examination

14.1. After cross-examination, the advocate is allowed to re-examine each witness. It is not the function of re-examination to invite the witness to revisit clear answers given in cross-examination.

15. Taking part in the inquiry

15.1. When you speak at the inquiry you should focus on the main points you want to get across to the Inspector. It is not necessary to read out all the detail you may have put in your written representations. The Inspector will already have that information. There is no need to repeat what other speakers have said, you can just say that you agree with them. You should not introduce new factual detail at this stage. This may result in delay to the inquiry if other parties need time to respond.

15.2. The Inspector will usually ask if you are willing to answer questions about your evidence. You do not have to do this, although it is often helpful to do so, and it may add weight to your evidence. Do not feel intimidated. The Inspector will not let anyone ask you hostile or unfair questions. If you oppose the appeal the appellant’s representative may ask you questions. If you support it, the LPA’s representative may ask you questions.

16. Inspector’s questions

16.1. At any stage during proceedings - but normally after cross examination and re-examination of a witness has taken place - the Inspector may also ask questions. Questions may be put to all those who give evidence, including interested people.

17. Giving evidence on oath

17.1. Inspectors will, where possible, seek early confirmation from the appeal parties if any witness to be called needs to swear on a religious text. If so, the appeal party will be asked to bring the relevant Holy Book to the Inquiry. LPAs may be asked to provide a copy of the necessary text.

18. Discussion of planning conditions

18.1. An inquiry will usually include a discussion about the conditions which may be imposed if the proposal is granted planning permission. The fact that conditions are discussed does not mean that the appeal will be allowed and planning permission granted or that, if allowed, conditions will be imposed.

19. Closing statements

19.1. Closing statements are an opportunity for the appellant, the LPA and any Rule 6 parties to sum up their case. They are usually read out from a pre-prepared version which they will give to the Inspector and those other parties who have summed up their case. The appellant will always be allowed to speak last at this point.

20. Application for appeal costs

20.1. The Inspector will then hear any applications for costs.

20.2. All parties to an appeal are normally expected to meet their own expenses.

20.3. If a party does not behave reasonably during the appeal process, they leave themselves open to costs being awarded against them. This would be on the basis that the behaviour had directly caused another party to incur expenses that would not otherwise have been necessary.

20.4. Costs may be awarded in response to an application for costs by one of the parties. Also, the Inspector may make an award of costs even if none of the parties have made an application.

20.5. There is guidance about costs awards in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ planning practice guidance.

21. The close of the inquiry

21.1. After hearing any applications for costs the Inspector will formally close the inquiry. This is normally followed by the Inspector visiting the appeal site (in certain circumstances that may have occurred during the inquiry). Because the inquiry has been formally closed there can be no further discussion about the case during that visit.

22. The decision

22.1. When made, the decision can be viewed using the search facility.

23. Complaints, challenges and feedback

23.1. Complaints

23.1.1. If, after the decision on an appeal has been published, we receive a complaint against an Inspector’s decision or the Inspector or the way we administered a case, it is dealt with by the Customer Quality Team who are independent of the teams who process cases. All complaints are investigated thoroughly and impartially. See our guide to our complaint’s procedure.

23.2. Challenge an administrative decision

23.2.1. If you wish to complain about a decision made by administrative staff during the processing of an appeal, you should write to our case officer giving clear reasons why you think we should review our decision.

23.2.2. There is no statutory right to challenge administrative decisions in the High Court. However, it is possible to make an application for judicial review. For further information please see section 20 of the Planning Appeals Procedural Guide.

23.3. High Court challenges

23.3.1. Once the decision on whether to allow or dismiss the appeal has been made, the only way it can be challenged is through the High Court. For further information on whether you can make a High Court challenge, the deadlines for making a challenge and the High Court challenge process, please see section 20 of the Planning Appeals Procedural Guide.

23.3.2. Some types of costs decisions can also be challenged in the High Court. Those that cannot be challenged in the High Court can be challenged by judicial review. Please see section 20 of the Planning Appeals Procedural Guide for further information.

23.4. Feedback

23.4.1. We welcome feedback about people’s experience of dealing with us. This can be provided to us at any time. Please send your feedback to feedback@planninginspectorate.gov.uk.

24. Contacting us

24.1. To contact us about a particular appeal you should contact our case officer – the LPA should have given you their details. For general enquiries our contact details are:

The Planning Inspectorate
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Bristol
BS1 6PN

Customer Form: Customer Services and general enquiries.

Helpline: 0303 444 5000

E-mail: enquiries@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

25 Getting help

25.1. If you would like help in taking part in an appeal against an enforcement notice or a lawful development certificate appeal, you can contact Planning Aid. Planning Aid provides free and independent professional advice on town and country planning issues to people and groups (who cannot afford consultancy fees).

Planning Aid

Planning Aid England
41-42 Botolph Lane
London
EC3R 8DL

Email: info@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk

Planning Aid Website

The Environmental Law foundation

Helpline: 0330 123 0169

Email: info17@.elflaw.org

Environmental Law Foundation website

Advocate

Advocate DX
50-52 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1HL

DX 188 London Chancery Lane

Telephone: 020 7092 3969

Advocate Website

26. How we use your personal information

26.1. If you participate in a planning or a listed building consent appeal, then the type of personal information contained in your representations will normally include your name, contact details and any other personal information you choose to provide.

26.2. The Planning Inspectorate takes its data protection responsibilities for the information you provide us with very seriously. To find out more about how we use and manage your personal data, please go to our privacy notice.