Part 1 is designed to enable appeals to be determined quickly and efficiently. Appeals are decided without formal statements of case, new plans or technical evidence, or further third‑party representations. Instead, the Inspector determines the appeal largely on the basis of:

• the planning application as submitted;
• the LPA’s decision notice;
• the officer or committee report; and
• the appeal application form.

Previously, Part 1 was confined largely to householder, minor commercial and advertisement appeals. Under the new Regulations, however, its scope has been significantly widened. Part 1 now applies to the vast majority of planning appeals determined by written representations, including appeals relating to refusals of planning permission, conditions, reserved matters and prior approval decisions. As a consequence, these appeals will be determined without further third‑party representations, with the Inspector having regard only to representations submitted during the determination of the planning application.

For LPAs, decision notices and officer (or committee) reports must be robust, comprehensive and internally consistent, as they will be relied upon much more heavily by Inspectors determining Part 1 appeals. Weak reasoning or poorly articulated grounds of refusal will be harder to defend without the opportunity for further detailed appeal submissions. This will particularly be an issue where a ground of refusal does not entirely accord with the evidence before a committee (e.g. a refusal on the grounds of flood risk where the drainage strategy before the committee suggests this will not be an issue), as there will no longer be the ability to seek evidence to support this position after the decision is made.

Equally, the same applies to applicants. Where a refusal is based on grounds where there is a lack of information at the application stage, it will become much more difficult for applicants to correct this at a later date. Whilst we will wait to see the impact of these changes, it would appear that pre-application advice (particularly where there is member involvement that can help to highlight potential points of concern) may help to flush out these issues at an early stage and allow for applications to be determined at the planning committee with more information available. 

Where the intention of the Government appears to be to speed up the determination of applications, this may cause frustrations for applicants if it is seen to increase the information required at the application stage. However, it is hoped that frontloading the process will enable more effective decisions and prevent refusals or excessive adjournments of applications on the basis of a lack of information.

For any queries regarding the changes to the planning appeal system, please contact me.