The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
THE COUNCILS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FIGHT
Not all appeals are successful, of course. When Marie Lacey and her partner discovered that they were expecting a second child, they realised that their two-up, two-down in Walsall, west Midlands, was too small. “We have a tiny second bedroom and a freezing shower room tacked on to the kitchen downstairs – it just doesn’t work,” she said.
They applied for a two-storey rear extension but were refused permission twice, and then lost an appeal on the basis that it would overshadow their neighbour’s garden. “It just doesn’t seem fair,” she said. “Other houses on the estate have extensions like this and our neighbour has no objection. Shouldn’t the planning system take my family’s needs into account?” The couple can’t afford to move and have decided to give up on their plans.
The best way to avoid a refusal, and therefore an appeal, is to get your application right first time. Hire the best architect you can find, consider what kinds of extension other people in your area are building and familiarise yourself with the local planning policies and guidance, all of which will be available on the council’s website.
If, despite these efforts, your application is refused, you need to work out your chances of success if you appeal. Start by reading the planning officer’s report, a document that accompanies all decisions. Don’t be afraid to call the case officer for advice and speak to a planning consultant.
If the council’s decision stands up to scrutiny, you should revise your plans – usually this involves making your extension smaller or moving it away from your neighbours’ land – and resubmit your application. If you think the council got it wrong and you have a fighting chance, do not hesitate to appeal.
Planners get it wrong more often than you might expect. The planning inspectorate found that 36pc of householders’ appeals were successful in 2021-22. The chances are even higher in some areas: 35 councils in England lost more than half of the appeals they contested and 10 lost at least two thirds. Homeowners in these areas are highly likely to get their proposals through at appeal (see table above).
Despite this one-in-three chance of success, only 5,500 appeals were submitted in England and Wales in 2021-22, representing just a fifth of refused planning applications. When they receive a refusal, most homeowners revise or abandon their plans, unaware of their right of appeal, daunted by the process or convinced that challenging the local planners has little chance of success.
If they had all appealed, and assuming the average success rate, about 8,000 more extensions would
have received approval last year.
Why do the planners get it wrong almost as often as they get it right? Planning decisions are subjective – one person’s exemplary contemporary design is another person’s eyesore. On top of this, the planners are harried and overworked, generally don’t carry out site visits (a hangover from the pandemic) and can be overzealous when they apply their planning policies. Too many have a rigid, tick-box mentality; if your proposal is unusual or ambitious, they are more likely to err on the side of caution.
Not even the most distinguished projects are safe from poor decision mak
ing. In December the Royal Institute of British Architects chose as its “house of the year” an extended farmhouse that had first been refused permission by the planners and was granted permission only after an appeal. The architect had designed a striking contemporary addition to House on the Hill, a handsome Georgian building with views over the Wye Valley. But the planners found it too daring, arguing that it was too large and did not respect its setting. The appeal inspector found against the council, embracing the modern design.
Win or lose, the right of appeal is an essential check on councils’ plan
ning powers and the only way for the humble homeowner to hold the planners, who have surprising power over what you can do with your own land, to account. You shouldn’t rush to appeal – get your application right first and work with the planners where possible. But if you have put your best foot forward and have still been knocked back, don’t get angry, appeal.