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Appeal a minor commercial development decision

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1. When you can appeal

Your local planning authority makes decisions on applications about minor commercial developments, for example ground floor alterations like shop fronts and security shutters.

You can appeal a minor commercial development decision if you disagree with it.

There’s no fee for appealing.

Only the person who made the application can appeal.

Deadline for appealing

You must appeal within 12 weeks of the date on the decision notice from your local planning authority.

The deadline’s earlier if you’ve received an enforcement notice - you must appeal within 28 days of the notice.

2. Make an appeal

You must make your appeal online.

If you want to appeal more than one decision you must make a separate appeal for each.

Fees

There’s no fee for appealing.

Documents you need

You’ll need to submit copies of:

  • your original application
  • the site ownership certificate
  • the local planning authority’s decision notice

You’ll also need to submit:

  • a map of the surrounding area
  • any other documents that directly support your appeal, for example your grounds for appeal

You can upload these documents when you appeal online.

Preparing your documents

You must have copyright permission to use any drawings or other documents. 

You can upload the documents as any of these file types, as long as they’re smaller than 25MB:

  • DOC or DOCX
  • JPG or JPEG
  • PDF
  • PNG
  • TIF or TIFF

Make sure all documents are fully readable without any redacted text.

Make an appeal online

Make an appeal

Get help using the online service

Contact the Planning Inspectorate’s customer support team if you need help using the online service.

By phone

Planning Inspectorate customer support team
Telephone: 0303 444 5000
Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm (except public holidays)
Find out about call charges

Online

You can also ask a question or make a complaint online.

3. Comment on an appeal

No-one can comment on a minor commercial development decision appeal.

Your local planning authority must tell anyone who has commented on the original application (‘interested parties’) that there’s an appeal.

They have to do this within 5 working days of the appeal being started by the Planning Inspectorate.

Read the detailed guidance about taking part in an appeal.

4. After you appeal

The Planning Inspectorate will check your appeal to make sure it’s valid. They’ll tell you what happens next and how long your appeal may take.

The Planning Inspectorate will then consider your appeal. Check how long planning appeal decisions normally take.

If anyone behaves unreasonably

You can apply for an ‘award of costs’ if anyone involved in your appeal has cost you money by behaving unreasonably, for example missing deadlines. You can have costs awarded against you too.

You can complain about how the Planning Inspectorate handled your appeal. There’s no time limit for complaints.

5. If you disagree with the appeal decision

You can challenge the decision in the High Court if you think the Planning Inspectorate made a legal mistake.

Get advice from a lawyer if you’re unsure about this.