Performance update – February 2023
Performance and other updates following the publication of our latest official monthly statistics.
On a monthly basis, we publish the latest official statistics on appeals performance, which represent the highest volume (in terms of number of cases) of the work of the Planning Inspectorate.
We also update the appeals handling times data to give customers the latest information on the average time it takes to receive a decision and provide an update on our other main casework areas.
This month we are publishing quarterly statistics on our performance against the Ministerial Measures announced last year.
Appeals
Our appeal cases are dealt with in one of three ways; written representations, hearings, or inquiries. Ministerial performance measures include an expectation to reduce average decision times over time and make our decision speeds more consistent. All our decision times are measured from the day we receive a valid appeal through to the day we issue a decision. This is the same approach Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) use for application times.
The median decision time for cases decided in January 2023 was 31 weeks.
By the end of January, for the second consecutive month we closed more appeals cases (1,694) than we received (1,624). At the end of January we had 14,342 open appeal cases. Over the previous year we received more appeals than we were able to close. Resolving issues locally and avoiding appeals wherever possible will help us provide a better service.
It is important appeals are valid on their first submission to us with all the correct supporting information so more of our colleagues can work on deciding appeals. In the most recent quarter (Oct – Dec 2022), 72.5% of appeals were valid on first submission, an increase on the previous quarter (63.3%). We are developing new digital public services. As more appeals are submitted through those services the proportion of cases which are valid when submitted is expected to rise.
Decision times for planning hearings have been improving considerably following our decision to align the hearing and inquiry processes from April 2022. The median decision time for planning inquiry decisions over the last twelve months is 31 weeks. The median time over the same period for planning hearings is 45 weeks but has been below that for the last six months because of the new approach. Over the next few months we will continue to reduce the number of older planning appeals being heard by hearing.
We are now beginning to focus on making our decision times for planning written representations appeals more consistent. The median decision time over the past twelve months for these appeals was 26 weeks, but the range of decision times was much wider. Around a third of decisions took fewer than 20 weeks, but 1 in 10 took a year or more. Our focus over at least the next six months will be on reducing the number of cases that are undecided after 26 weeks, so we become more consistent in our decision times.
We continue to focus our enforcement inspectors on deciding more of the appeals needing hearings and inquiries so we can reduce these and speed up our decisions. We are consequently deciding fewer enforcement appeals by written representations and decisions are taking longer. Over the last twelve months the median decision time is 42 weeks, but decisions over the last few months took slightly longer than that. Once we have achieved our aims with enforcement hearing and inquiry appeals, the focus will shift to written representations cases.
Quality Assurance
During the three months October to December 2022, 1,257 appeal cases were quality assured, which is 27% of the decisions issued over that period. In that time 6 Local Plans and 2 Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) were also quality assured.
National Infrastructure
We have a high number of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) at various stages:
- 62 where we are providing advice before submission
- 19 submitted and at acceptance, pre-examination, or examination
- 1 where we are preparing our recommendation
- 6 where the relevant Secretary of State is considering our recommendation
The work to examine NSIPs is key to the economic growth of the country. Just last week the A47 Wansford to Sutton application was granted development consent by the Secretary of State for Transport following an examination by the Planning Inspectorate. The application involves the dualling of the A47 between the A1 and the dual carriageway section west of Peterborough.
Oliver Blower (Planning Inspectorate Applications Service Manager) writes about how users are seeing improvements to the online service for NSIPs.
Local Plans
There are currently 55 live Local Plan examinations in progress.
Communities use Local Plans to plan for their future and help to protect them from speculative or unwanted proposals. We encourage Local Planning Authorities (LPA) to use our advisory visits to help them get their plans in good shape and deal with challenges well before submission.
This series of short films helps explain the process of Local Plan examinations and how people can get involved.