Official Statistics

Planning Inspectorate statistical release 23 April 2026

Published 23 April 2026

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This statistical release provides summary information on appeals, which represent the highest volume (in terms of number of cases) of the Planning Inspectorate’s work. For details of what cases are included within the release see the textbox after Table 9.

These statistics are produced each quarter, and the focus is on timeliness of decision-making, an area of particular interest for stakeholders. Information on the decisions that have been made is also included; and on the number of Inspectors available to make those decisions.

We have released tables of statistics at the same time as this report. The tables show the time series of cases received, decided and allowed rates since 2010, broken down by case type; as well as annual total for decisions by Local Planning Authority.

Planning Inspectorate Quarterly and Annual Volume Statistics - GOV.UK

These statistics have been published to ensure everyone has equal access to the information and to support the Planning Inspectorate’s commitment to release information where possible.

This statistical bulletin provides:

  • The time taken to reach decisions
  • Appeals, decisions and events held, from April 2025 to March 2026
  • The number of open cases
  • The number of Inspectors
  • The number of section 78 appeals received compared to decided, and the proportion allowed, in the last 5 years

The Planning Inspectorate

The Planning Inspectorate makes decisions and provides recommendations and advice on a range of land use and planning-related issues across England.

The Planning Inspectorate deals with planning appeals, national infrastructure planning applications, examinations of local plans and other planning-related and specialist casework in England. The Planning Inspectorate is an executive agency, sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

1.1 Summary

Time to decide cases

The median decision time for cases decided in March was 18 weeks.

Median timeliness by procedure type is shown in the summary table below.

Procedure type Last 12 months March 2026
Written Representations 20 weeks 17 weeks
Hearings 24 weeks 25 weeks
Inquiries 28 weeks 38 weeks
All Cases 21 weeks 18 weeks

The median time for planning cases was 16 weeks in March 2026. The 12-month median was 18 weeks. The median decision time for all cases has been coming down over the last year as seen in Figure 1 below.

Enforcement decisions made in March 2026 had a median decision time of 75 weeks, with the 12-month median being 65 weeks.

The median time for planning appeals decided by inquiry under the Rosewell Process in March was 28 weeks and over the 12 months to March 2026 was 29 weeks.

Decisions

The Planning Inspectorate made 19,617 appeal decisions in the last 12 months, an average of 1,635 per month. The number of decisions in March 2026 was 1,728.  

There were 18,209 decisions made on written representations during the last 12 months, with 1,617 in March 2026.  

There were 655 decisions made on hearings during the last 12 months, with 57 in March 2026.  

There were 338 decisions made on inquiries during the last 12 months, with 24 in March 2026.

Planning Inspectors

There were 479 Planning Inspectors employed by the Inspectorate at the end of March 2026.

Section 78 Appeals

The allowed rate for Section 78 planning appeals was 32% for April 2025 to March 2026.

Figure 8 shows that the Planning Inspectorate decided more cases than were received for 8 out of the last 10 quarters; however in the most recent quarter, relatively few cases were decided, and more were received.

Please note the Planning Inspectorate has reordered this release to make it easier to read. As a result of this the tables have been reordered as well, please refer to Annex F for how they have changed.

To help determine whether this has been helpful, please send any feedback on these changes to: statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

2. Decision Timeliness

It is important for people to know how long an appeal is going to take, so that they can make informed plans and decisions. This section covers the timeliness of decisions (i.e., how long it takes to make a decision) across appeal casework.

Planning Inspectors work on a broader range of work than the cases featured in this release. For example, they also work on examining Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project applications, Local Plans, Compulsory Purchase Order applications and many other specialist licencing/ application types.

How is timeliness measured 

The time to make a decision is measured from the time the Inspectorate have enough information for the case to proceed (it is deemed ‘valid’) to the time a decision letter is issued. This means that any delay in ‘validating’ the appeal is included in the time to make a decision. 

The decisions made in a given month will include those that started many months before, and thus do not give an accurate indication of how long appeals submitted, or deemed ‘valid’ in that month, will take.

Table 1 below shows that the median time to make a decision, across all cases in the last 12 months, was 21 weeks. The median time for decisions made in March 2026 was 18 weeks. Figure 1 shows the monthly median has ranged from 18 to 26 weeks over last 12 months. Table 1 also shows the mean decision time for the last 12 months is 30 weeks. Each month the median is less than the mean, due to the impact of very long cases. This is illustrated in Figure 1. Also included in the table is the standard deviation of decision timeliness, which is a measure of variation.

The chart and table show a reduction in the median time to make a decision over the last year, but the mean is not showing the same reduction. This could be caused by quicker decision making on newer cases, accompanied by closing of older cases. A more detailed view of decision timeliness is available in the related Ministerial Measures release. This will next be published in May 2026 (covering the same time period as this).

This chart shows a reduction in the median time over the last year, but the mean is not showing the same reduction. This could be caused by quicker decision making on newer cases, accompanied by closing of older cases. A more detailed look at the decision timeliness will be released in next months Ministerial Measures release.

Table 1: Median, Mean and Standard Deviation of Time to Decision; April 2025 to March 2026

Note 1: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information.

Month Apr- 25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Valid to Decision  (median weeks) 25.9 24.6 24.7 22.1 19.9 20.1 19.8 18.1 18.4 19.1 18.6 18.0 20.9
Valid to Decision  (mean weeks) 30.9 31.4 31.8 30.0 29.2 29.9 29.3 27.8 28.8 30.6 30.2 31.1 30.1
Standard Deviation (weeks) 21.2 24.1 25.4 25.5 27.9 27.3 25.7 26.4 25.8 27.5 27.8 31.2 26.5

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

What are mean, median, and standard deviation?

Measure Definition
Mean The total time taken divided by the number of cases. Also referred to as the ‘average’. A measure of how long each case would take, if the total time taken was spread evenly across all cases.
Median This is the time taken by the ‘middle’ case if all cases were sorted from quickest to longest
Standard deviation This is a measure of variability or spread. It is calculated by examining how much each value differs from the mean. A higher standard deviation means the individual decision times vary more widely around the mean. A lower standard deviation would demonstrate greater consistency in the Planning Inspectorate’s decision timeliness.

Figure 1: Median and Mean Time to Decision; April 2025 to March 2026.

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

3. Decisions, Events & Open Cases

The Planning Inspectorate has made 19,617 decisions in the last 12 months. There were 1,728 cases decided in March 2026, with a monthly average of 1,635 over the past 12 months. Some of these outcomes are not final decisions but recommendations. These occur in cases that have been ‘called in’ or in section 78 appeals that have been ‘recovered’ for the Secretary of State to decide. In those situations, inspectors provide a recommendation rather than making the decision themselves.

Table 2 below shows the monthly breakdown with the highest number of decisions in July 2025 and lowest in January 2026.

The number of events recorded for March 2026 was 1,772, with a monthly average of 1,627 over the past 12 months.

The median valid to decision time was 18 weeks in March 2026, as shown in Figure 2 and Table 2 below.

There are no clear trends for the number of events and decisions per month. However, the Christmas break typically impacts on the number of events arranged for December.

Figure 2: Number of events held, decisions issued and median time between valid date & decision date; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note: Annex C has this chart for just decisions (previously Figure 3)

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Table 2: Number of events held, decisions issued and median time between valid date & decision date; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Events held 1,813 1,386 1,746 1,801 1,429 1,826 1,668 1,652 1,219 1,705 1,512 1,772 19,529
Decisions 1,538 1,540 1,777 1,907 1,522 1,651 1,705 1,724 1,665 1,347 1,513 1,728 19,617
Median weeks 25.9 24.6 24.7 22.1 19.9 20.1 19.8 18.1 18.4 19.1 18.6 18.0 20.9

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Figure 3 below shows the number of cases received, closed and open for each of the last 12 months. The number of cases closed has exceeded the number of cases received for every month other than January 2026 and March 2026. March 2026 saw the highest number of cases received in one month since May 2022. This can be seen in this release Planning Inspectorate statistical release 18 May 2023 - GOV.UK where the number of received for May 2022 was 2,015. The number of open cases has been reducing steadily over the past 12 months.

Figure 3: Number of cases received, closed and open; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note: The number of cases closed is higher than the number of decisions, as it includes cases where an appeal is withdrawn, notice is withdrawn, or the appeal is turned away.

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Table 3: Number of cases received, closed and open; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note 1: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Note 2: There is a known anomaly that means that the number of open cases does not exactly follow the volumes of cases closed or received (for example the number of open cases can increase between months even though the number closed exceeded the number received). The main reasons for this have been identified and are detailed in the Background Quality Report.

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Received 1,563 1,626 1,558 1,748 1,483 1,697 1,627 1,707 1,628 1,634 1,597 1,911 19,779
Closed 1,721 1,731 1,974 2,082 1,669 1,811 1,904 1,861 1,832 1,511 1,628 1,828 21,552
Open Cases 11,874 11,787 11,318 11,019 10,824 10,705 10,364 10,185 9,825 9,944 9,848 9,796  

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

At the end of March 2026, the Planning Inspectorate had 9,796 cases open. More information on how the number of open cases has changed over the past 12 months, is in Table 3 and Figure 3 above.

For wider context on planning activity, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes national statistics on planning applications in England. These can be found in the Live tables on planning application statistics

The open cases comprised of 8,733 cases being handled through written representations; 348 through hearings; and 326 through inquiries, as well as 389 not currently allocated a procedure type. This is not the number of ‘live’ hearings and inquiries since it includes cases where the event (hearing or inquiry) has yet to start, as well as those where the event has finished but the decision has yet to be issued. 

Table 4: Open cases by procedure and stage, as of end of March 2026.

Note 1: There are 389 cases that have no procedure type recorded (see Background Quality Report for more detail) These are excluded from the row and column totals in the table below. They have been added to the overall total.

Note 2: There is a known anomaly that means that the number of open cases does not exactly follow the volumes of cases closed or received (for example the number of open cases can increase between months even though the number closed exceeded the number received).  The main reasons for this have been identified and are detailed in the Background Quality Report.

Stage WR HRG INQ Total
Case received but yet to be deemed valid 284 3 12 299
Case deemed valid but yet to “start” 1,049 52 93 1,194
Case started but event not yet happened 5,851 197 157 6,205
Event happened but decision not yet issued 1,549 96 64 1,709
Total 8,733 348 326 9,796

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals 

4. Decisions by Procedure

The large majority of decisions over the past 12 months 18,209 were made on written representations. This is 95% of all appeal decisions made with a procedure allocated. Table 5 shows that written representation decisions have varied from 1,248 to 1,741 per month over the past 12 months.

There were 648 decisions made on hearings during the last 12 months, the monthly average being 54. During March 2026, 54 decisions were made for hearings. In March 2026, 24 decisions were made for inquiries. Decisions for inquiries per month over the last 12 months have ranged between 17 and 44.

Table 5 below gives the numbers of appeal decisions made broken down by whether the case was dealt with by written representations, hearings, or inquiries.

Table 5: Appeal Decisions by Procedure; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note 1: There are 415 appeal decisions that have no procedure type recorded (see Background Quality Report for more detail) These are excluded from the procedure totals in the table below. They have been added to the overall total. 

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Written Representations 1,447 1,389 1,639 1,741 1,429 1,530 1,597 1,603 1,540 1,258 1,419 1,617 18,209
Hearings 62 77 47 64 49 59 50 57 51 41 41 57 655
Inquiries 20 44 23 43 27 21 17 26 32 32 29 24 338
Total 1,538 1,540 1,777 1,907 1,522 1,651 1,705 1,724 1,665 1,347 1,513 1,728 19,617

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Figure 4 – Appeal Decisions by Procedure; April 2025 to March 2026.

Procedure Type

Table 6 below shows decision timeliness broken down by the procedure type. Hearings and inquires have typically been more variable than written representations. Because over 90% of cases are by written representation, the timeliness measures for written representations are similar to the measure across all cases.

Where a small number of cases has been decided, the average timeliness (whether mean or median) is less meaningful as a measure than where there are many cases.

Median times are less affected by a small number of large values than mean times, so are the focus of this commentary. The median time for written representations over the 12 months to March 2026 is 20 weeks. The median time for hearings over the 12 months to March 2026 is 24 weeks. The median time to decide for inquiries over the 12 months to March 2026 was 28 weeks.

Table 6: Mean and Median Time to Decision, with Standard Deviation, by Procedure; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note 1: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Key: WR= Written Representations; HRG= Hearings; INQ= Inquiries; All= All Cases

Measure Procedure Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Valid to decision (median weeks) Written Representations 25.9 24.0 24.0 21.1 19.4 19.0 19.1 17.4 17.6 18.4 17.7 17.4 20.0
Valid to decision (median weeks) Hearings 24.1 23.6 23.0 22.4 23.4 23.9 22.7 24.7 23.7 25.1 24.6 25.0 23.7
Valid to decision (median weeks) Inquiries 48.2 29.1 34.3 26.4 25.9 29.0 26.0 25.2 30.6 26.0 26.0 37.6 28.1
Valid to decision (median weeks) All Cases 25.9 24.6 24.7 22.1 19.9 20.1 19.8 18.1 18.4 19.1 18.6 18.0 20.9
Valid to decision (mean weeks) Written Representations 30.1 30.0 29.9 27.8 28.4 28.4 28.2 26.4 27.7 30.0 29.7 30.2 28.8
Valid to decision (mean weeks) Hearings 31.3 31.0 27.7 39.7 31.4 36.1 33.9 32.7 28.7 31.9 28.8 31.5 32.3
Valid to decision (mean weeks) Inquiries 64.6 40.9 53.4 37.4 32.6 36.3 28.5 40.3 42.2 37.0 26.1 48.8 40.1
Valid to decision (mean weeks) All Cases 30.9 31.4 31.8 30.0 29.2 29.9 29.3 27.8 28.8 30.6 30.2 31.1 30.1
Standard Deviation (weeks) Written Representations 20.0 22.8 23.6 23.1 27.5 26.2 24.9 25.4 25.5 27.4 27.9 31.1 25.6
Standard Deviation (weeks) Hearings 18.9 21.3 11.9 35.6 19.5 29.4 27.1 21.4 14.8 20.8 18.9 24.2 23.4
Standard Deviation (weeks) Inquiries 44.0 26.5 36.9 25.8 17.8 23.6 7.8 36.7 27.7 27.0 5.3 32.3 29.2
Standard Deviation (weeks) All Cases 21.2 24.1 25.4 25.5 27.9 27.3 25.7 26.4 25.8 27.5 27.8 31.2 26.5
Decisions Written Representations 1,447 1,389 1,639 1,741 1,429 1,530 1,597 1,603 1,540 1,258 1,419 1,617 18,209
Decisions Hearings 62 77 47 64 49 59 50 57 51 41 41 57 655
Decisions Inquiries 20 44 23 43 27 21 17 26 32 32 29 24 338
Decisions Total 1,538 1,540 1,777 1,907 1,522 1,651 1,705 1,724 1,665 1,347 1,513 1,728 19,617

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

The standard deviation information indicates that for all three procedures, there is considerable variation, meaning times are widely spread about the mean.

Planning Inquiry Decisions

For planning appeals decided by the inquiry process, The Planning Inspectorate has been implementing recommendations from the Rosewell review.

The median time for inquiries under Rosewell process over the 12 months to March 2026 is 29 weeks and the median time to decision for March 2026 was 28 weeks. 

Table 7: Decisions, Median and Mean Time to Decision, Planning Inquiry Cases under Rosewell Process; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note: where there are fewer than 20 decisions, the measures mean, median and standard deviation are less meaningful.

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Decisions 12 18 15 22 7 11 3 9 19 11 8 13 148
Valid to Decision (median weeks) 28.1 28.5 34.0 26.4 38.6 26.7 28.7 24.6 31.4 24.7 26.5 28.0 28.9
Valid to Decision (mean weeks) 35.0 35.1 35.9 30.7 41.1 30.2 33.3 26.4 38.7 35.0 26.9 32.3 33.7
Standard deviation of decision (weeks) 17.3 13.6 13.8 9.4 12.8 13.4 10.0 9.2 16.8 17.8 3.8 10.4 13.9

Figure 5 below shows the mean and median time to decision for planning inquiry cases under the Rosewell process.

Figure 5: Median and Mean Time to Decision, Rosewell Inquiry Process; April 2025 to March 2026.

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Most inquiry decisions now being issued are under the revised ‘Rosewell’ process but some inquiries, for example those that are linked together with associated enforcement cases, do not follow the Rosewell process.

Table 8: Decisions, Planning Inquiry Cases under non-Rosewell Process; April 2025 to March 2026.

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Decisions 1 4 2 0 1 0 2 1 1 2 1 0 15

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

5. Decisions by Casework Category

The majority of cases decided over the past 12 months were planning (15,735). This is about 80% of all appeal decisions made. There were 2,932 enforcement decisions and 950 specialist decisions. These totals are also shown in Table 7 below and Figure 5 below.

Trends for planning decisions show similar patterns to written representations. The average number of enforcement decisions over the past 12 months was 244. Specialist casework figures continue to vary each month, from a high of 115 in June 2025 to a low of 44 in August 2025.

Table 9: Appeal Decisions by Casework Category; April 2025 to March 2026.

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Planning 1,286 1,254 1,460 1,558 1,279 1,323 1,326 1,406 1,311 1,035 1,164 1,333 15,735
Enforcement 195 204 202 236 199 254 300 243 264 257 278 300 2,932
Specialist 57 82 115 113 44 74 79 75 90 55 71 95 950
Total 1,538 1,540 1,777 1,907 1,522 1,651 1,705 1,724 1,665 1,347 1,513 1,728 19,617

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

What are Planning cases? The Planning category includes s78 planning appeals, householder appeals, commercial appeals, listed building consent appeals, advertisement appeals, s106 planning obligation appeals and Called In Planning Applications.

What are Enforcement cases? Enforcement covers enforcement appeals (i.e., appeals against the issue of an enforcement notice served by a local planning authority for alleged breaches of planning control), enforcement listed building notice appeals and lawful development certificate appeals.

What are Specialist cases? Specialist casework includes Common Land, Rights of Way orders (including Schedule 14 cases), Purchase orders, Tree Preservation Orders, High Hedges appeals, Hedgerow appeals, Wayleave, Compulsory Purchase Orders, Secretary of State, Transport, Environmental Permitting Appeals and Coastal Access. Additional casework types have been added to this category over time.

Figure 6 – Appeal Decisions by Casework Category; April 2025 to March 2026.

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Casework Category

The nature of the cases the Planning Inspectorate deal with varies widely and several factors play a part in determining how long it takes to make a decision. One such factor is the type of casework. Table 10 below shows the time taken to decide, in planning cases, in enforcement cases, and in specialist cases, as does Figure 6.

The median time to decision for planning cases (there are many more of these decisions than in the other categories) is lower than for enforcement cases; and less variable than the times for specialist cases.

Table 10: Median, Mean and Standard Deviation of Time to Decision – Planning, Enforcement, Specialist Cases; April 2025 to March 2026.

Note 1: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Appeal Type Measure Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Planning Cases Valid to decision (median wks) 23.9 22.7 22.3 20.0 17.9 17.7 16.9 16.0 15.9 16.7 15.8 16.0 18.1
Planning Cases Valid to decision (mean wks) 25.1 24.5 24.3 22.0 20.6 20.1 19.5 18.6 19.4 19.8 19.4 18.9 21.1
Planning Cases Standard deviation of decision (weeks) 12.7 13.6 14.4 11.4 12.4 11.6 10.2 10.9 12.1 11.7 12.9 12.9 12.5
Enforcement Cases Valid to decision (median wks) 59.6 52.6 64.9 58.7 73.4 67.8 64.7 71.3 61.7 66.7 60.9 75.0 65.1
Enforcement Cases Valid to decision (mean wks) 63.3 61.6 68.2 64.1 73.9 69.0 65.3 70.0 67.9 68.7 68.0 76.4 68.2
Enforcement Cases Standard deviation of decision (weeks) 28.7 33.6 36.6 37.3 37.1 36.9 32.9 34.9 32.5 32.6 33.0 39.6 35.1
Specialist Cases Valid to decision (median wks) 36.4 62.9 59.5 72.9 81.9 70.4 55.1 60.1 56.6 44.0 52.7 49.9 57.6
Specialist Cases Valid to decision (mean wks) 51.4 62.3 64.0 70.2 78.8 72.6 58.6 63.5 53.0 57.2 60.4 58.3 62.3
Specialist Cases Standard deviation of decision (weeks) 30.8 37.0 31.9 38.1 52.7 29.4 32.0 35.1 27.4 35.7 32.8 34.3 35.2

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Annex A gives information on median and mean time to decision, with standard deviation, for the three procedure types, split by planning, enforcement, and specialist casework categories.

Enforcement decisions made in the past 12 months had a median decision time of 65 weeks.

There are considerably fewer specialist cases which means results are more liable to be distorted by extreme values.

Figure 7 – Median Time to Decision by Casework Category: April 2025 to March 2026.

Source: Horizon and Manage Appeals

Note that this release includes information on the mean and median times from valid to decision, for selected appeal types. The information published also breaks down the time for each stage of the process. See Annex B for further details.

6. Inspectors

Table 11 below shows the number of Inspectors in the Planning Inspectorate in each month from April 2025 to March 2026. This includes headcount (i.e. the number of different individuals) and full-time equivalents (FTE) where those working part time are counted in proportion with their contracted hours. There were 479 Planning Inspectors employed by the Inspectorate in March 2026 – with a full-time equivalent of 435.

Table 11: Planning Inspectors – Headcount and FTE; April 2025 to March 2026 (at end of month).

Month Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26
Headcount 455 452 448 446 445 457 455 476 473 480 480 479
FTE 412.5 408.7 404.5 403.2 402.0 412.9 411.2 431.7 429.4 436.3 436.1 434.5

Source: Employee Central

As above, Planning Inspectors work on a broader range of work than the appeals featured in this release. Please note that data on Planning Inspectors is only applicable to salaried employees (it does not include fixed term contract Inspectors or Planning Appeal Decision Suppliers, previously referred to as non-salaried Inspectors).

7. Exploring Section 78 Planning Appeals

The Inspectorate has published a series of tables of quarterly data alongside this bulletin. Some of the data published is on casework types that The Planning Inspectorate deals with that are larger in scale, but smaller in volume, than the appeals decisions that are the subject of the preceding sections of these statistics.  Some examples of this are Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and Local Plans, where volumes never go into the hundreds, and the time between submission to report issue can be over a year. Other data breaks appeals down into more detail than in the monthly totals.    

Appeals against refusal of Planning Permission (Section 78 appeals)

The largest volume of casework dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate are appeals against refusal of Planning Permission, which are made under Section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.  The analysis below deals with just this casework type. Similar data for other casework types can be found in the published tables. 

Number of appeals received compared to decisions issued.

In the last twelve months, April 2025 to March 2026, there have been 9,476 Section 78 planning appeals (s78) received, 3.5% higher than for the period April 2024 to March 2025. 

In the last five years (April 2021 to March 2026) the highest level of quarterly receipts (2,811) occurred in April to June 2022 and the highest number of decisions (2,756) was in July to September 2025.  Over the past year the average number of receipts per quarter was 2,369 and the average number of decisions per quarter was 2,524. 

The number of appeals received in January to March 2026 (2,514) was 18.2% higher than the same period in 2025. 

Figure 8: Number of s78 Planning appeal, receipts and decisions, 2020/21 to 2025/26, by quarter.

Source: Horizon & Picaso.  Full published data in Tables 2.1 and Table 2.4.

See Annex D, Table A, for full data table.    

The number of decisions issued in January to March 2026, was 12.8% lower than the previous quarter and 9.2% lower than the corresponding quarter last year. 

Appeals Allowed

The percentage of Section 78 planning appeals that were allowed in the latest quarter was 32%, higher than in the previous quarter (see figure 9). There were 713 appeals allowed between January and March 2026, 68 less than in the previous quarter.

The consistency in the overall percentage allowed is heavily influenced by the number of written representations appeals allowed, as this procedure type contributes by far the greatest number of decisions each year.  There has been slightly more variation in the percentage allowed for hearings and inquiries.  See Figure 10 below for further details.    

Figure 9: S78 planning appeals, percentage allowed, 2020/21 to 2025/26, by quarter.

Source: Horizon & Picaso.  Full published data in Table 2.4 s78 planning appeals decided.     See Annex D Table B, for full data table    

Figure 10: S78 planning appeals, percentage allowed by procedure type, 2020/21 to 2025/26, by quarter.

Source: Horizon & Picaso.  Full published data in Table 2.4 s78 planning appeals decided.     See Annex D Table B, for full data table    

8. Annex A – Mean and median time to decision, with standard deviation, for planning, enforcement, and specialist casework

Planning

Note 1: where there are fewer than 20 decisions, the measures mean, median and standard deviation are less meaningful.

Note 2: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Planning Measure Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Written Representations Decisions 1,227 1,183 1,415 1,497 1,235 1,278 1,289 1,357 1,261 991 1,124 1,279 15,136
Written Representations Median Average Weeks 23.7 22.4 22.0 20.0 17.4 17.3 16.7 15.7 15.4 16.3 15.6 15.7 17.9
Written Representations Mean Average Weeks 24.9 24.2 24.1 21.9 20.3 19.8 19.2 18.2 18.9 19.3 19.1 18.5 20.8
Written Representations Standard Deviation Weeks 12.3 13.5 14.1 11.4 12.3 11.6 9.8 10.6 11.7 11.4 13.0 12.7 12.3
Hearings Decisions 46 49 28 39 36 34 32 39 30 31 31 41 436
Hearings Median Average Weeks 23.8 23.0 22.9 21.1 23.3 22.9 23.4 24.7 22.2 22.0 21.6 23.9 22.9
Hearings Mean Average Weeks 26.4 25.2 24.6 22.7 27.7 25.3 28.1 29.6 24.6 25.2 24.9 27.0 26.0
Hearings Standard Deviation Weeks 9.5 9.8 9.6 9.9 10.9 9.2 17.6 15.1 11.5 11.0 8.8 16.1 12.1
Inquiries Decisions 13 22 17 22 8 11 5 10 20 13 9 13 163
Inquiries Median Average Weeks 29.1 28.1 34.0 26.4 37.3 26.7 26.9 25.2 32.6 31.9 26.9 28.0 29.1
Inquiries Mean Average Weeks 42.4 37.2 42.0 30.7 38.5 30.2 30.4 27.0 40.0 39.4 27.1 32.3 35.6
Inquiries Standard Deviation Weeks 30.5 19.0 28.1 9.4 13.8 13.4 8.5 8.9 17.4 19.3 3.7 10.4 18.7
All Cases Decisions 1,286 1,254 1,460 1,558 1,279 1,323 1,326 1,406 1,311 1,035 1,164 1,333 15,735
All Cases Median Average Weeks 23.9 22.7 22.3 20.0 17.9 17.7 16.9 16.0 15.9 16.7 15.8 16.0 18.1
All Cases Mean Average Weeks 25.1 24.5 24.3 22.0 20.6 20.1 19.5 18.6 19.4 19.8 19.4 18.9 21.1
All Cases Standard Deviation Weeks 12.7 13.6 14.4 11.4 12.4 11.6 10.2 10.9 12.1 11.7 12.9 12.9 12.5

Enforcement

Note 1: where there are fewer than 20 decisions, the measures mean, median and standard deviation are less meaningful

Note 2: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information.

Enforcement Measure Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Written Representations Decisions 176 160 186 201 175 227 275 219 237 233 251 283 2,623
Written Representations Median Average Weeks 60.8 64.4 66.4 60.0 81.4 72.4 68.4 74.0 64.7 69.0 64.1 75.9 69.0
Written Representations Mean Average Weeks 63.6 69.1 70.4 65.7 80.4 72.5 68.6 74.1 71.8 72.1 72.6 78.7 71.9
Written Representations Standard Deviation Weeks 26.5 32.6 35.6 36.3 34.6 36.1 31.6 32.9 30.9 31.5 31.4 39.0 33.8
Hearings Decisions 14 25 13 19 10 20 13 14 18 7 7 11 171
Hearings Median Average Weeks 25.6 37.7 20.1 49.4 23.4 23.9 21.1 20.2 24.4 33.4 24.7 24.9 24.7
Hearings Mean Average Weeks 37.8 31.9 27.6 61.8 25.9 41.0 29.4 30.1 31.5 53.7 23.7 29.2 36.1
Hearings Standard Deviation Weeks 22.7 14.6 13.2 44.6 10.9 30.4 30.7 17.0 14.7 32.0 2.2 12.6 26.7
Inquiries Decisions 5 19 3 16 14 7 12 10 9 17 20 6 138
Inquiries Median Average Weeks 136.7 33.1 132.6 34.0 23.9 29.1 25.9 21.6 24.1 24.3 25.8 33.4 26.0
Inquiries Mean Average Weeks 125.5 38.0 106.7 46.3 27.6 35.9 27.7 35.7 39.5 27.2 25.6 53.2 39.0
Inquiries Standard Deviation Weeks 18.0 26.6 43.0 36.5 14.0 29.9 7.3 41.8 40.7 5.8 5.8 38.4 33.7
All Cases Decisions 195 204 202 236 199 254 300 243 264 257 278 300 2,932
All Cases Median Average Weeks 59.6 52.6 64.9 58.7 73.4 67.8 64.7 71.3 61.7 66.7 60.9 75.0 65.1
All Cases Mean Average Weeks 63.3 61.6 68.2 64.1 73.9 69.0 65.3 70.0 67.9 68.7 68.0 76.4 68.2
All Cases Standard Deviation Weeks 28.7 33.6 36.6 37.3 37.1 36.9 32.9 34.9 32.5 32.6 33.0 39.6 35.1

Specialist

Note 1: where there are fewer than 20 decisions, the measures mean, median and standard deviation are less meaningful.

Note 2: This table includes revisions to previously published data. Please see Annex E for further information

Specialist Measure Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Total
Written Representations Decisions 44 46 38 43 19 25 33 27 42 34 44 55 450
Written Representations Median Average Weeks 36.4 28.4 36.6 36.0 70.3 65.1 31.7 49.3 33.9 39.9 45.1 44.9 37.4
Written Representations Mean Average Weeks 42.3 43.2 46.9 55.0 76.2 63.6 41.6 52.4 43.3 53.3 56.0 51.4 50.6
Written Representations Standard Deviation Weeks 27.3 32.6 29.1 48.9 68.7 25.0 29.8 38.3 30.7 35.5 34.4 35.1 37.2
Hearings Decisions 2 3 6 6 3 5 5 4 3 3 3 5 48
Hearings Median Average Weeks 98.7 114.1 42.3 101.8 94.4 65.1 87.6 65.0 64.3 37.1 104.9 49.9 70.8
Hearings Mean Average Weeks 98.7 118.6 41.8 100.0 94.6 90.0 82.7 71.5 53.0 50.3 80.7 73.4 77.3
Hearings Standard Deviation Weeks 0.0 11.0 7.9 20.9 11.6 46.4 16.5 40.7 16.5 19.2 34.2 47.9 36.2
Inquiries Decisions 2 3 3 5 5 3 0 6 3 2 0 5 37
Inquiries Median Average Weeks 56.3 102.9 66.6 27.6 18.0 67.9 - 66.7 79.7 104.0 - 86.4 58.6
Inquiries Mean Average Weeks 56.3 86.8 64.6 38.6 37.2 59.4 - 70.0 64.7 104.0 - 86.6 64.3
Inquiries Standard Deviation Weeks 0.0 30.7 20.3 25.1 26.6 22.2 - 39.9 25.4 60.0 - 28.2 36.5
All Cases Decisions 57 82 115 113 44 74 79 75 90 55 71 95 950
All Cases Median Average Weeks 36.4 62.9 59.5 72.9 81.9 70.4 55.1 60.1 56.6 44.0 52.7 49.9 57.6
All Cases Mean Average Weeks 51.4 62.3 64.0 70.2 78.8 72.6 58.6 63.5 53.0 57.2 60.4 58.3 62.3
All Cases Standard Deviation Weeks 30.8 37.0 31.9 38.1 52.7 29.4 32.0 35.1 27.4 35.7 32.8 34.3 35.2

9. Annex B – Detailed Information on timeliness (March 2026)

The information below shows the number and length of decisions made in March 2026:

Note: when there are fewer than 20 decisions the measures mean, median and standard deviation are less meaningful.

Casework Type Procedure Type Median (weeks) Mean (weeks) Decisions
s78 planning appeals Written Representations 16.4 20.7 751
s78 planning appeals Hearings 23.6 26.4 38
s78 planning appeals Inquiries 28.0 32.3 13
Householder appeals Written Representations 12.6 13.9 408
Enforcement appeals Written Representations 75.9 78.7 283
Enforcement appeals Hearings 24.9 29.2 11
Enforcement appeals Inquiries 33.4 53.2 6

The smaller the number of decisions, the less helpful the mean and median are as measures for summarising performance. Particular care should be taken when there are fewer than twenty decisions.

The information published below shows the time taken for different stages of the appeals process:

Note: Only cases with both dates recorded appear in this table, meaning that numbers for cases decided and events recorded may be lower than those presented elsewhere.

Measure s78 Written Representations [Note 1] s78 Hearings s78 Inquiries Householder appeals
Weeks between valid date & start date        
Median (average) 0.7 1.6 3.6 0.7
Mean (average) 1.1 2.1 10.6 1.0
Cases that started in March 2026 725 33 17 297
Weeks between start date & event date        
Median (Average) 9.4 11.1 15.9 7.0
Mean (Average) 12.4 13.3 17.9 9.0
Cases where an event occurred during March 2026 795 48 19 449
Weeks between event date & decision date        
Median (average) 3.3 5.6 6.9 2.3
Mean (average) 4.8 6.4 9.6 3.7
Cases that have been decided in March 2026 745 38 13 405

Explanation of date terminology

Valid date When a case is deemed to have been validly received. Note – this is not always the date the case was validated. If a case is validated after the date it was validly received, it is the date it was validly received that is the valid date.
Start date When a timetable, on how the appeal will progress, is issued to both the appellant and local authority. This timetable tells the appellant when to submit the information the Inspectors need to determine the appeal. It also tells the local authority when to notify interested parties about the appeal.
Event date When the site visit, hearing, or inquiry occurred.
Decision date When the decision was issued by The Planning Inspectorate.

Find out more about the process here - https://www.gov.uk/appeal-planning-decision/after-you-appeal

10. Annex C – Number of decisions April 2025 to March 2026.

Note this is previously Figure 3 that has been moved due to the reorder.

11. Annex D – Volume Tables

Table A: s78 planning appeals received and decided, by quarter, 2021/22 to 2025/26

Quarter Received Decided
Apr – Jun 21 2,580 2,319
Jul – Sep 21 2,693 2,124
Oct – Dec 21 2,729 2,212
Jan – Mar 22 2,671 2,294
Apr – Jun 22 2,811 2,025
Jul – Sep 22 2,582 2,056
Oct – Dec 22 2,654 2,600
Jan – Mar 23 2,578 2,481
Apr – Jun 23 2,461 2,144
Jul – Sep 23 2,408 2,488
Oct – Dec 23 2,410 2,468
Jan – Mar 24 2,407 2,578
Apr – Jun 24 2,379 2,351
Jul – Sep 24 2,393 2,602
Oct – Dec 24 2,258 2,628
Jan – Mar 25 2,127 2,481
Apr – Jun 25 2,275 2,505
Jul – Sep 25 2,247 2,756
Oct – Dec 25 2,440 2,584
Jan – Mar 26 2,514 2,252

Table B: s78 planning appeals, percentage allowed by procedure type, 2021/22 to 2025/26

Quarter Written Representations Hearings Inquiries All
Apr – Jun 21 30% 34% 55% 31%
Jul – Sep 21 27% 43% 58% 28%
Oct – Dec 21 27% 41% 62% 28%
Jan – Mar 22 28% 32% 54% 29%
Apr – Jun 22 27% 34% 60% 29%
Jul – Sep 22 26% 53% 65% 28%
Oct – Dec 22 26% 51% 65% 29%
Jan – Mar 23 28% 45% 66% 30%
Apr – Jun 23 28% 41% 65% 30%
Jul – Sep 23 27% 39% 38% 28%
Oct – Dec 23 24% 48% 67% 27%
Jan – Mar 24 27% 51% 53% 28%
Apr – Jun 24 28% 40% 67% 29%
Jul – Sep 24 28% 39% 52% 29%
Oct – Dec 24 26% 50% 68% 28%
Jan – Mar 25 31% 57% 69% 33%
Apr – Jun 25 30% 51% 82% 32%
Jul – Sep 25 29% 59% 78% 31%
Oct – Dec 25 29% 40% 64% 30%
Jan – Mar 26 30% 62% 61% 32%

Table C: s78 planning appeals, number allowed by procedure type, 2021/22 to 2025/26

Quarter Written Representations Hearings Inquiries All
Apr – Jun 21 633 40 39 712
Jul – Sep 21 536 40 29 605
Oct – Dec 21 553 41 24 618
Jan – Mar 22 595 31 36 662
Apr – Jun 22 509 37 34 580
Jul – Sep 22 484 60 31 575
Oct – Dec 22 602 89 51 742
Jan – Mar 23 639 66 42 747
Apr – Jun 23 555 61 30 646
Jul – Sep 23 618 54 26 698
Oct – Dec 23 558 63 40 661
Jan – Mar 24 644 63 27 734
Apr – Jun 24 607 46 29 682
Jul – Sep 24 672 59 25 756
Oct – Dec 24 642 63 36 741
Jan – Mar 25 694 90 37 821
Apr – Jun 25 701 59 40 800
Jul – Sep 25 763 63 32 858
Oct – Dec 25 718 40 23 781
Jan – Mar 26 635 58 20 713

12. Annex E – Revisions to the data tables

This Annex lists all revisions made to the data since the last statistical release.

Note: Classed as a revision are any values which have changed by more than five (when measuring number of decisions/ cases) or more than 0.5 weeks (for mean, median or standard deviation of weeks).

Table Revisions
Table 2 Events Held: November and December 2025
Table 2 Decisions: October, November and December 2025
Table 3 Received: June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 3 Closed: April, May, June, November and December 2025
Table 3 Open: April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 5 Written Representations: April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 5 Inquiries:  October 2025
Table 5 Total decisions:  October, November and December 2025
Table 6 Written Representations Valid to Decision (Median Weeks): July and September 2025
Table 6 Hearings Valid to decision (Median weeks): October 2025
Table 6 Inquiries Valid to decision (Median weeks): October and November 2025
Table 6 Written Representations Valid to Decision (Mean Weeks): May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 6 Hearings Valid to decision (Mean weeks): April, May, June, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 6 Inquiries Valid to decision (Mean weeks): October and November 2025
Table 6 Written Representations Standard Deviation (weeks): May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 6 Hearings Standard Deviation (weeks): May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Table 6 Inquiries Standard Deviation (weeks): October 2025
Table 9 Planning: November and December 2025
Table 9 Specialist: October 2025
Table 9 Total decisions: October, November and December 2025
Table 10 Enforcement: Valid to decision (Median weeks): July, October and November 2025
Table 10 Enforcement: Valid to decision (Mean weeks): July and October 2025
Table 10 Enforcement: Standard deviation of decision (weeks): October 2025
Table 10 Specialist: Valid to decision (Median weeks): May, June, August, October and December 2025
Table 10 Specialist: Valid to decision (Mean weeks): July and August 2025
Table 10 Specialist: Standard deviation of decision (weeks): August 2025
Annex A: Planning Hearings (Decisions): October 2025
Annex A: Planning Inquiries (Decisions): December 2025
Annex A: Planning Inquiries (Median): December 2025
Annex A: Planning Inquiries (Mean): December 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Written Representations (Decisions): July, September and December 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Written Representations (Mean weeks): July 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Inquiries (Decisions): October and November 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Inquiries (Median): October 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Inquiries (Mean): October and November 2025
Annex A: Enforcement Inquiries (Standard Deviation): October and November 2025
Annex A: Specialist Written Representations (Decisions): April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Written Representations (Median weeks): May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Written Representations (Mean weeks): April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Written Representations (Standard Deviation): April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Hearings (Decisions): April, May, June, August, October, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Hearings (Median weeks): May, June, July, August, September, November and December 2025
Annex A: Specialist Hearings (Mean weeks): April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025
Annex A Specialist Hearings (Standard Deviation): April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025

13. Background notes

Data sources

Horizon / Picaso / Manage Appeals – The main casework management systems used for processing appeals casework (note that Picaso is no longer a live system).

Employee central – The Human Resources system database used to store all information regarding members of staff.

Compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

These statistics have been published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, which cover trustworthiness, quality, and value. They have been pre-announced, and publication is overseen by the Head of Profession.

Technical Notes

A Background Quality Report is published alongside this Statistical Release. It provides more detail on the quality of statistics in this publication.

Data quality Data on cases is taken from a live casework system, and details of cases can change for a number of reasons even after a decision has been made. We are seeking to get a better understanding of the nature and volume of these changes and will provide further information as it is available.

We carry out regular checks on the quality of our data and may undertake ad hoc data cleansing exercises.  Therefore, all the data for the last 12 rolling months is published in provisional form.
We have indicated in this publication any data where a number of cases has changed by more than five cases in a month; or where a measure (mean, median or standard deviation) has changed by more than 0.5 weeks.
Measuring weeks Data are measured in days and then converted to weeks. 

Note that not all decimal values are possible where converting days to weeks. 1 day is 1/7 of a week, or 0.14 weeks (to two decimal places). 2 days = 0.29; 3 days = 0.43; 4 days = 0.57; 5 days = 0.71; 6 days = 0.86.

 

When these are used to calculate averages, or displayed to one decimal place, the result will not equate to a full day which can be misleading: it may appear that we are measuring part days (e.g. 19.8 weeks) but we only measure in whole days.

Glossary

Term Explanation
Appeals The right to appeal a planning decision made by a local authority is a key feature of the planning system, as is appealing when an authority is taking too long.
Appeals decided Number of appeals by the date the appeal was decided by The Planning Inspectorate.
Appeals received Number of appeals by the date the appeal was received by The Planning Inspectorate.
Applications Planning Inspectorate manage the application process for proposed Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) within England and Wales in line with the 2008 Planning Act.
Closed The total number of appeals decided, withdrawn, or turned away.
Decision The outcome of the case e.g. appeal allowed or rejected. The date of the decision is taken as the date a decision letter is sent to the appellant.
Event A site visit, hearing, or inquiry (may be virtual)
Event Type The different options of how an Inspector visits a site for a written representations appeal.
Examinations The process of examining local plans is dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate. Every Local Planning Authority is required to have a local plan.  This includes a vision for the future and plan to address housing needs in the area.  When a Local Planning Authority has finished preparing and consulting on a local plan it must be submitted to the Secretary of State who appoints an Inspector to carry out an independent examination.
FTE Full Time Equivalent – a count of employees where those working part time are counted in proportion with their contracted hours.
Headcount Total number of staff employed regardless of how many hours they work (i.e. the number of different individuals).
Hearings A hearing involves the submission of written evidence by the main parties and a hearing once all the written submissions have been received.  This takes the form of a round-the-table discussion (in person or virtually) that will be led by the planning inspector. It allows for all parties to respond to any questions that the inspector might have, and to let everyone make their case known.   Source: Planning Portal
Inquiries An inquiry is usually used for complex cases where legal issues may need to be considered. The main parties will usually have legal representatives to present their case and to cross-examine any witnesses. Prior to the inquiry date, the Planning Inspectorate will expect to have received various documents from all parties that will be taking part in the appeal. These may include statements of case and proofs of evidence from expert witnesses. Third parties may also take part. The inquiry will be led by the inspector and will follow a formal procedure. At some point during or on conclusion of the inquiry the inspector and the main parties will undertake a site visit.  Source: Planning Portal
Live appeals Number of live appeals in that have an appeal valid date but no end date (either decision date or a closed date, e.g. for appeals that have been withdrawn).
Mean The total time taken divided by the number of cases. Also referred to as the ‘average’. A measure of how long each case would take, if the total time taken was spread evenly across all cases.
Median This is the time taken by the ‘middle’ case if all cases were sorted from quickest to longest
Open Cases Number of cases that have been received but on which a decision has not yet been made/ issued. Will differ from Live Appeals as it includes those received but not yet verified.
Procedure Type The method by which The Planning Inspectorate processes and decides appeals.
Standard deviation This is a measure of variability or spread. It is calculated by examining how much each value differs from the mean. A higher standard deviation means the individual decision times vary more widely around the mean.
Written Representations (includes Rights of Way Schedule 14) Most planning appeals are decided by the written representations’ procedure. With this procedure the Inspector considers written evidence from the appellant, the LPA and anyone else who has an interest in the appeal. The site is also likely to be visited.

14. Contact Us

The Planning Inspectorate welcome feedback on our statistical products. If you have any comments or questions about this publication or about our statistics in general, you can contact us as follows:

Media enquiries 0303 444 5004

email press.office@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

Public enquiries email statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

Please note we are currently reviewing our statistics with a view to making them as clear and helpful as possible for users. We would be delighted if you could contact us via the address below with any views on this approach; particularly on what content would be most useful and why.

email statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

If you require information which is not available within this or other available publications, you may wish to submit a Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to the Planning Inspectorate. For more information, see: https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/the-freedom-of-information-act