Halloween horror: appeals that get bounced in the night

Or more likely in broad daylight … Neil has mentioned the need to make sure for yourself that your planning appeal is going to the correct person: a reporter or the local review body as appropriate. If you get it wrong you could lose your right to appeal because you overrun the strict time limits for appeals. In the last year (halloween to halloween) the DPEA rejected over ten percent of planning permission appeals because they had no remit to determine them.

So here’s a thought for those quiet moments when you lie awake at dead of night thinking of that deadline for submitting a deemed refusal appeal: What if you can’t tell from the Council’s scheme of delegation whether determination is delegated?

This isn’t an uncommon problem. Take a look at the schemes of delegation. For instance, some schemes:

delegate refusal of certain applications, but not approval (e.g. Orkney, Angus)
include a formal procedure (e.g. publication of a planning schedule) before delegation is actually confirmed (e.g Stirling)
don’t delegate where there is an objection from a statutory consultee (e.g. Angus)
rely on the officer’s interpretation of the development plan (e.g. Edinburgh)

And so on. In some cases, if there is no clear delegation until a certain event (e.g. a recommendation for refusal) then your appeal for deemed refusal may be to a reporter. Whereas, if you wait for a decision, the actual decision may be delegated. So you need to read a scheme of delegation as closely as a devil’s bargain…