P8.9: Call-ins & Planning Appeals

Where a planning application is refused by the Local Planning Authority, the applicant has the right to appeal to the Secretary of State (SoS). There is no right of appeal for interested people or organisations (known as ‘third parties’) in England and Wales. The Planning Inspectorate administers these appeals.

Given the likely scale and complexity of large scale development projects, it is likely that any appeal would be undertaken through the Inquiry process, where an Inspector will consider all the evidence in the light of:

• the development plan, local and national policy context;
• statements of common ground and the cases prepared by the applicant and local authority and any respective rebuttals or comments made on them;
• comments submitted by anyone else as third parties.

The SoS also has the power to "call in" certain planning applications that local authorities may be proposing to approve. Potential call-in cases are brought to the attention of the SoS by the appropriate Government Office through departure procedures, under the Density, Shopping, Playing Fields, Green Belt and Greenfield Directions or through other means such as representations from other authorities, government departments or the public. The decision to call in an application will be used very selectively and relates only to those applications that have wider effects beyond the immediate locality, significant regional or national controversy, or potential conflict with national policy. These will then be subject to a public inquiry presided over by a Planning Inspector who will make recommendation to the Secretary of State who will decide the application instead of the local planning authority.

Planning appeals and call-ins add delay to the planning process and involve significant work for all involved in terms of compiling, presenting and reviewing evidence as well as attending the Inquiry itself. It is therefore important for all parties to identify and work towards achieving acceptable proposals through active collaborative pre and post application working, to identify and resolve issues and avoid the need to enter the appeal process.