The Planning Inspectorate’s pilot scheme for the Householder Appeals Service (HAS) went live on 2 January 2008. The objective is to test the HAS procedure on a live, but voluntary basis, in readiness for the potential full roll-out subject to the necessary legislation being put in place.

The process

The revised process includes major changes for the Inspectorate, for local planning authorities and for appellants.

At the heart of the process is the ability to use the original application file held by the local planning authority in an electronic format for administering the appeal. The local planning authority will rely purely on their decision notice to defend the appeal together with any internal reports. They will not provide a formal appeal statement and will not attend the site visit.

The appellant will send in an appeal statement with their appeal forms.

Planning Inspectors will work entirely electronically, based on the electronic file provided by the local planning authority. The Inspector will visit the site alone, with the appellant present in some cases only to provide access to the site.

The streamlined process will decide householder appeals in eight weeks, once the supporting legislation is in place. This is approximately 6 weeks quicker than at present. The pilot, operating within the current legislative framework, is targeting 12 weeks.

The benefits

The benefits are immense for all stakeholders:

For appellants, the process is simpler to understand, requires less form filling and relies mainly on documentation already sent to the local planning authority. There are therefore reductions in the time taken to submit the appeal and ultimately in receiving the decision.
For the Inspectorate there is less time taken in chasing up missing documents, putting the appeal file together, and generally administering the process.
For local planning authorities, time and cost savings are achieved by not having to provide a formal appeal statement, by using electronic files, filling in simpler forms and by removing the need to send their limited planning resources to attend the appeal site visit.

Who is taking part?

The whole pilot process is completely voluntary for both local planning authorities and for appellants.

Appellants whose appeals fall within the scope of the pilot will receive information on both the current procedure and also the pilot procedure. They may then choose which process to follow. Participation is entirely voluntary.

The following local planning authorities are taking part in the pilot.

London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames
London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Ealing
London Borough of Harrow
London Borough of Hillingdon
London Borough of Wandsworth
Birmingham City Council
North Somerset Council
New Forest District Council
Sheffield City Council
St Helens Council
Kennet District Council
Kirklees Council
North Lincolnshire Council
Basildon District Council
Guildford Borough Council
Brighton and Hove City Council
Hambleton District Council
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Leeds City Council (joining 14 July 2008)

We hope that the majority of LPAs will be signed up to the Pilot before the full service is rolled out in April 2009. This will enable easier LPA transition to the full service

If other authorities wish to take part in the pilot they should contact Gavin Ewing, the Planning Inspectorate, telephone 0117 372 8397, e-mail: gavin.ewing@pins.gsi.gov.uk