Refused Planning Permission? Are planning appeals the way forward?
Navigate planning refusals with our expert advice.
About How Planning Appeals
Our Expertise
At How Planning Appeals, we specialise in handling planning appeals, providing personalised and strategic planning advice specifically tailored for homeowners. With 20 years of experience in the planning sector—spanning both public and private roles—we are uniquely positioned to offer expert planning advice that reflects a deep understanding of the system from all angles. Our comprehensive knowledge of planning policy, procedures, and local authority expectations ensures that our clients receive the most effective strategies to maximise their chances of a successful planning appeal. Whether you are dealing with a refused planning application or looking to challenge an enforcement notice, we are here to guide you every step of the way through the often complex planning appeals process.
Refused Planning Permission? You Have Options
If your planning application has been refused, don’t lose hope — you have the right to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The encouraging news? Around one in three planning appeals are successful.
With the right planning advice and supporting evidence, your chances of success can increase significantly. However, before launching into a planning appeal, it’s worth exploring all other avenues. In some cases, further negotiation with your local planning authority may resolve the issue without the need for a formal appeal.
If an agreement can’t be reached, an appeal might be your best — or only — option. For householder planning appeals, it’s important to act quickly: you must submit your appeal within 12 weeks of the date of refusal. For other types of planning appeals, you generally have up to 6 months to submit.
How to Improve Your Chances of a Successful Appeal
Planning refusals can often be successfully challenged — and for good reason. Common grounds for appeal include:
- Misinterpretation or overly rigid application of planning policy
- Disregarding the planning officer’s recommendation
- Overreliance on objections from third parties
When a local authority refuses an application, they are required to provide reasons based on planning policy. By carefully analysing these reasons and comparing them with relevant appeal precedents, it’s often possible to construct a compelling counter-argument — or amend the proposal so that the original objections no longer apply.
Planning law and policy are complex, but with access to over 150,000 planning appeal precedents, we’re able to identify strong legal grounds and persuasive strategies to support your case. In some instances, professional planning advice within the council may be overridden for political or non-material reasons — decisions that are open to challenge.
How We Can Help
We guide you through the planning appeals process, helping you choose the right approach. With our expertise, case law access, and in-depth experience, we can create a strong, evidence-based argument tailored to your case.
Want to see how this works in real life?
Ask us about a recent successful appeal — we’d be happy to share the details.
Need advice now?
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation about your planning refusal through an Application Review or please get in touch if you have a question.
Appeal Submission
If you feel that the planning appeals process is the way forward, we can guide you through everything, where we will prepare, submit and manage the appeal for you.
Our fee for this service is a single upfront cost of £550. Following your payment, the process will work in the following way:
- We will prepare a draft Appeal Statement of Case for your review within 10 days
- Once the Statement has been agreed, we will submit to the Planning Inspectorate, as well as advise the Council of the appeal submission
- The Planning Inspector will make a site visit on an appropriate day, this is for their benefit and not an opportunity to discuss the appeal
- Following the site visit, the Planning Inspector will review the appeal documents and provide their assessment.
Let us review your refused application
Refused
When you receive notification of your refusal, it can be an upsetting and confusing time. Sometimes it is not always clear as to why you have received a refusal and as such you want to understand if this is a fair assessment of your application.
Understanding
When a planning application is refused, the Council issues a Decision Notice explaining the reasons. However, these documents are often written in technical language and can be difficult to interpret. It’s important to clearly understand why the decision was made so you can decide how best to respond.
Solutions
We can takeaway the stress of trying to interpret the Council's decision and provide some clarity. We will take an independent review and provide advice as to whether the decision was justified or your options, which may include an appeal.
Application Review service
If you would like us to review your decision, for a fee of £125 we can provide a written response to understand your options. this includes the following:
- Understand the reason for refusal
- Whether the decision is considered fair in respect of local and national planning policy
- Provide a strategy to move forward, whether that includes, a revised application or an appeal.