Following a successful pilot with five London boroughs, the new online planning appeals service is set to be rolled out nationally
The new digital appeals service has already been tested by Barnet, Greenwich, Havering, Richmond upon Thames, and Bromley to help handle householder appeals (fast-track cases) and section 78 (full planning) appeals.
Gloucestershire County Council and Gosport Borough Council have recently joined the pilot.
A phased rollout approach will be used, with the number of authorities increasing towards the end of July. All English authorities are expected to have access to the service by the end of December 2025.
Offering benefits for overwhelmed planning authorities
It offers several advantages over the traditional method of appeal, including:
- Streamlining the submission and management of appeals
- Offering a more user-friendly Local Planning Authority (LPA) dashboard for reviewing and monitoring cases
- Improving communication between all parties, removing paper-based processes
- Offering a continuous source of feedback to improve the system for users.
Last week, a video seminar was ran for around 800 people over 230 LPAs, running through how the service will work and gaining feedback from attendees.
The system will utilise individual LPA emails for security, eliminating the need for planning officers to create new accounts.
Big changes to the planning system
Late in June, the government announced changes to the planning appeal process in general, meaning that only evidence submitted during the application will be considered during appeals.
The intent of this change is to encourage developers, local councils, and communities to provide all the evidence that they can at the start of the process and shorten the appeals process.
At the time, Paul Morrison, planning inspectorate CEO, said: “Every delayed planning decision represents potential delays to development and uncertainty for local communities. This change is a common-sense approach to planning that benefits us all by removing unnecessary administrative burdens and focusing on what matters: well-informed, timely decisions based on high-quality applications from the start.”
Before this change, another change was made to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in April, which scrapped the statutory consultation requirements for major infrastructure projects.
At the time, deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner said: “Critical national infrastructure is key to Britain’s future and security – so we can’t afford to have projects held up by tiresome requirements and uncertainty, caused by a system that is not working for communities or developers and holding back our true potential.
“We are strengthening the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to make sure we can lead the world again with new roads, railways, and energy infrastructure as part of the Plan for Change, whilst ensuring local people still have a say in our journey to get Britain building.”
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