Representing Dartmoor National Park Authority (c) BBC News
If the council refuses your planning application you are entitled to appeal. The case is heard by an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of state and is entirely independent of both sides.
There are three ways in which the appeal can be heard: by written representations, where each party submits their case in writing and the Inspector will decide the case by reading the papers and visiting the site of the proposed development; by an informal hearing, where the Inspector reads the papers and then hears from the parties in answer to questions raised by him or her; and by an inquiry. This is the most formal of hearings where the parties are usually represented by lawyers and the appeal is conducted a little like a court hearing. Witnesses are called to give evidence and they are cross-examined.
I have been instructed in all three types of appeals and I have appeared on behalf of councils, developers and local residents over a period of twenty years.
Appeals, and especially inquiries, are a team effort and I can recommend and personally instruct expert witnesses to suit the particular issues in the appeal.
There is no charge to enter an appeal and the only time that costs are awarded is where one party has acted unreasonably in the appeal. Unreasonable behaviour is defined by a Circular published by the Government.
Appeals can be made when the council refuses a planning application, or an application to grant a certificate of lawful use, or to issue an enforcement notice. Objectors cannot appeal a decision to grant a planning application, but they can appear as a party where the applicant has appealed against a decision of the council.
It is important to take advice as soon as the decision to refuse has been made. There are strict time limits, and a hasty decision to appeal can be met with an application for costs if the appeal is withdrawn in whole or in part.
EXAMPLES OF PLANNING APPEALS RECENTLY UNDERTAKEN
For the local authority:
- responding to an appeal by a major housebuilder for a development of 50 homes.
- responding to an appeal by a leading supermarket operator for a new supermarket and employment units.
- responding to an appeal by a person served with an untidy site notice
- responding to an appeal for an emergency service telecomms mast in a National Park
For the developer
- appearing on behalf of the Government for an immigration appeals centre in South Wales
- appealing against the refusal to grant permission for a seven-storey casino and leisure facility in Surrey
- appealing against the refusal to grant a certificate of lawful use for subdivision of a house into three dwellings
- appealing against the refusal to grant a housing development in Dorset
- appealing against an enforcement notice served against a mobile home in Devon
For objectors
- appearing for residents opposed to the conversion of a large dwelling into a conference centre and hotel
