How do I object to a planning application or planning appeal?

If you want to make an objection to a planning application or to a planning appeal it is essential your objection is clear and relevant. What can you do to get the outcome you want?
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  1. When you find out about a planning application make sure you know the deadlines for submitting any letter of objection. If you don’t write in by that deadline then the Council could make a decision before they hear your views.
  2. Look at the planning application details carefully. Don’t make any assumptions about what is being proposed – you want to be accurate in your objections.
  3. Get help from others in your objection. If your neighbours write in, or pressure groups, or other organisations, then that can help your case.
  4. Make reference to the Council’s development plan and to national planning policy in your letter. Planning applications are assessed against those documents and so you need to show why there is any conflict.
  5. Keep track of the planning application once you have written your letter. The applicant might amend the scheme or put in further information in response to your letter. If that happens you are allowed to write in again, any time up to the date of the formal decision by the Council.
  6. If the planning application goes to a Planning Committee then ask to speak. Prepare thoroughly for your speech and concentrate on just a few issues, as you will have very limited time.
  7. If you are objecting to a planning appeal then fully read the appellant’s Statement of Case before you write to the Planning Inspectorate – it is new information they have prepared just for the appeal.
Have you been informed of a planning application near you? Or a planning appeal? This book explains how to make an effective objection to applications and appeals in England. Planning departments receive many thousands of applications every year, so it is essential your objection is clear, well-written and relevant to planning policies and law. There are strict rules and deadlines, and if you get these wrong there is a danger your voice will not be heard...
​This step-by-step guide gives practical advice from the time you first hear of a planning application or appeal, through to how to prepare your objection letter, and then how to present your case to a planning committee.

Comprehensive information is also given in how to be fully involved in the planning appeals system, including representing yourself at an appeal.

Written in clear English, this book gives you the tips you need to make your objections clearly heard.
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The book sets out:
  • How to find out about planning applications, what to do when you know an application might affect your property, and advice on the importance of deadlines
  • Detailed advice on how to write a planning application objection letter, referring to typical concerns that objectors have. Guidance on planning policies and what to include in your letter (and what not to include)
  • How to get support from others for your case, and what to do after you have submitted your letter to the Council
  • How planning applications are decided, and how you can influence the process
  • Planning appeals processes and how you can be involved, to make sure you meet the strict rules and regulations of an appeal
  • How to write a planning appeal objection letter, and how to represent yourself at an appeal site visit, Hearing or Inquiry
  • Costs awards in planning appeals, and what you can do if an appeal is allowed
  • Advice on when you can use professionals to help you
110 pages. Available via Amazon.
Book contents:

​Finding out about the planning application
  • The way in which the public are informed about planning applications.
  • When you can write in to make your views heard about a planning application.
  • What to do when you hear about an application.
Writing an objection letter
  • The importance of local and national planning policies when writing your letter.
  • What to include in your letter, and what not to include.
  • How to get support from others.
  • What to do after submitting your letter to the LPA.
How planning applications are decided
  • The ways in which an LPA will formally decide whether to grant or refuse planning permission.
  • How to make further representations to the LPA, and when to do that.
  • How to prepare for a Planning Committee.
After the formal Decision Notice for a planning application
  • The possible outcomes of a planning application.
  • What you can do, depending on those outcomes
How to object to a planning appeal
  • How the planning appeal system works, as it is different to how planning applications are determined by an LPA.
  • How to make representations during the appeal process and what to include in those representations.
How to be involved at a planning appeal site visit, Hearing or Inquiry
  • Representing yourself in front of a Planning Inspector at site visits, Hearings and Inquiries.
  • Costs awards in planning appeals.
What happens after an appeal is decided
  • The possible outcomes of a planning appeal.
  • What you can do, depending on those outcomes.
Using professionals
Above: Photo by Jake Colling on Unsplash
Reviews
This book provides common sense and well-informed advice to anyone who needs to object to a planning application in England. It fills a gap in the market because it speaks to both lay and specialist audiences drawing on a lifetime of professional training, experience and teaching. The information and guidance is up-to-date, robust and effective, outlining an approach that can help the reader successfully object to poor quality planning proposals.

​Joe Doak, Associate Professor of Urban Planning & Development (1992-2020), Henley Business School, University of Reading
Christian has been an invaluable Consultant, with his in-depth knowledge of planning helping several of my clients to navigate their way through the planning system.  It’s great that he's been able to condense the salient points of that experience into these easy to understand guides, to enable people to engage with planning departments to good effect.
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Tony Grover, BDS Surveyors
Christian Leigh has helped us on numerous occasions. Four times he has helped us shape arguments that have defeated inappropriate planning applications in our road and he was able to help us acquire planning permission to build our own house on a challenging and narrow plot. His profound knowledge of planning statutes and the way the council process their decision making is invaluable when constructing irrefutable argument to make a point or challenge an assumption. I have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone who needs help.
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 Mr S McNair, Berkshire
Christian is an intelligent and pragmatic town planning expert, and his many years of experience are evidenced in this helpful and practical handbook.  In my experience Christian’s advice is worth every penny, if you cannot benefit from his service in person then you can benefit from this useful handbook. 

Noël De Spéville, LLB Solicitor
Christian's work for us in objecting to development near our home was invaluable ... a great guide for how to be involved in the planning system
 
Mr & Mrs Baker, Berkshire