Guidance

Appeals: how long they take

Latest average timescales for planning, enforcement and householder appeals.

Applies to England

AugustSeptember 2022 - Decisions summary

S78 & Householder appeals

Median (weeks) Mean (weeks) Decisions (cases)
s78 planning appeals Written Reps 3331 3034 658567
s78 planning appeals Hearings 5640 4347 2540
s78 planning appeals Inquiries 3929 2630 2011
Householder appeals Written Reps 1918 1622 386288

Enforcement appeals

Includes s174 enforcement appeals, s39 enforcement listed building appeals and lawful development certificate appeals

Median (weeks) Mean (weeks) Decisions (cases)
Written Reps 4650 4050 164114
Hearings 10140 10057 613
Inquiries 8162 6992 548

Mean Average - The total time taken divided by the number of cases. Also referred to as the ‘average’. A measure of how long each case would take, if the total time taken was spread evenly across all cases.

Median - The middle value, if the times are sorted. This means that half the cases take less then this time; and half the cases take more.

Decisions – number of decisions made.

Please note that the times given here are measured from the time an appeal which we are able to progress (‘valid’) to the time a decision is issued.

The smaller the number of decisions, the less helpful the mean and median are as measures for summarising performance. Particular care should be taken when there are fewer than twenty decisions. These are represented with an * in the table, but have been provided for completeness and transparency.

Each of the measures give a slightly different view of the average time taken to make a decision, both are provided because neither gives a perfect indication of the average. The mean is potentially affected by a small number of cases taking a long time – and this gives an over-estimate. The median is less affected by these few longer cases so may give a more helpful indication of the average.

The mean was published previously so we are publishing it to allow users to compare current with previous data.

In making use of the data provided, users are reminded that some decisions made in the latest month were on cases submitted a years or more before – as such, while they are the most recent snapshot available, they should not be relied on to give a reliable indication of what will happen to a case submitted recently or in the future.

We are reviewing our published information in order to make it more useful and accessible to users – please get in touch with us at statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk if you have suggestions on how we could improve the information we provide to you.

Published 1 January 2014
Last updated 2220 SeptemberOctober 2022 + show all updates
  1. September 2022 - Decisions summary data added

  2. Updated number and length of decisions made in August 2022

  3. Inquiry appeals submitted after 1 April 2019 removed as no longer correct

  4. Data updated with July 2022 - Decisions summary

  5. June 2022 information on number and length of decisions made

  6. May 2022 data added

  7. Decisions summary updated with April 2022 data

  8. Decisions summary updated with March 2022 data

  9. Updated with number and length of decisions made in February 2022

  10. January 2022 data on timeliness

  11. How long appeals take based on December 2021 data

  12. November 2021 figures added

  13. October decisions summary data added

  14. September 2021 data added

  15. August 2021 data added

  16. Tables updated with July data.

  17. Updated appeal timeliness data for June 2021

  18. May 2021 data on how long decisions are taking.

  19. April 2021 data added to show how long an appeal has taken.

  20. March data added to chart

  21. February 2021 - Decisions summary updated

  22. January 2021 - Decisions summary updated

  23. December 2020 - Decisions summary updated

  24. September 2020 data added.

  25. August average performance data added

  26. Corona virus information removed and July 2020 - Decisions summary added.

  27. Message regarding the impact of Covid-19 on our average timescales.

  28. The average timescales have been removed as we have postponed site visits, Hearings and Inquiries.

  29. To help delay the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) we are following Government advice on social distancing and avoiding non-essential travel. This has meant it necessary to postpone site visits, Hearings and Inquiries which has affected the time it is taking to deal with some appeals. We are looking ways to mitigate this by using technology and other ways to process appeals without risking the wellbeing of appellants, parties to an appeal and our staff. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

  30. Data updated with January 2020 figures

  31. Updated times added

  32. Average timescales updated

  33. Added a link to the Inspectorate's news item on Approach to casework during the pre-election period

  34. Average timescales updated

  35. Average timescales updated

  36. Average timescales updated

  37. Average timescales updated

  38. Average times updated

  39. Average times updated

  40. Updated the first section with a comment realating to the time taken to decide apeals

  41. Average timescales updated

  42. Latest appeal timescales

  43. Average timescales updated

  44. Data updated

  45. data on handling times updated

  46. average timescales updated

  47. times updated

  48. Average timescales updated

  49. Average timescales updated

  50. Average timescales updated

  51. Average timescales updated

  52. Average timescales updated

  53. Updated data on appeal handling times

  54. indicative times updated

  55. Indicative times updated

  56. Monthly figures updated

  57. pre election advice removed

  58. Monthly stats updated

  59. Monthly Figures updated

  60. Advice on impact of local elections added

  61. Monthly figures updated

  62. Timescales updated

  63. The monthly figures and the way they are set out have been updated

  64. Monthly figures updated

  65. Figures updated

  66. figures updated

  67. Monthly figures updated

  68. Updated figures

  69. First published.