- When it arises
- 8 weeks for minor applications, 13 weeks for major, from validation
- What triggers it
- No decision issued, and no extension of time agreed
- Deadline to lodge
- 6 months from the end of the statutory period
- Effect
- The Council loses jurisdiction. The Inspector decides instead
- Our fee
- Fixed, quoted on the scheme
How it works
The Council has eight weeks to decide a minor application and thirteen for a major one, running from the date of validation rather than submission. If that period passes with no decision and you have not agreed an extension of time in writing, you acquire a right of appeal against non-determination.
Lodging it removes the application from the Council. It can no longer grant or refuse; it simply files a statement setting out what it would have done. The Inspector then determines the application afresh.
Appealing costs you the negotiation. If the officer is minded to approve and is simply waiting on a consultee, appealing converts a likely permission into a contested appeal that takes considerably longer than waiting would have. If the Council is using delay to avoid a decision it does not want to make, or is asking for a fourth extension of time, appealing is the right answer. The judgement is about which of those you are in, and it usually requires a direct conversation with the case officer first.
When it is usually right
- The Council keeps requesting extensions of time with no substantive progress
- The application is caught in a dispute between the Council and a statutory consultee that shows no sign of resolving
- The scheme is politically difficult locally and the Council would prefer an Inspector to carry it
- There is a commercial deadline, a lapsing option or a funding condition
- The Council's own record on determination times makes further waiting unrealistic
When it is usually wrong
- The officer has indicated support and is finalising the report or a section 106 agreement
- The only outstanding matter is one you can resolve by submitting a document
- Your case is weak and the Council has not yet articulated its objections, so appealing invites it to
- The appeal timescale for the procedure you would use is longer than the delay you are complaining about
Extensions of time
Councils ask routinely, and agreeing is often sensible. But an extension of time agreed in writing removes the non-determination right until the new date, and open-ended extensions remove it indefinitely. Agree to a specific date, in writing, and do not agree to a series of rolling extensions without asking what specifically is being waited for.
What we do
- Establish the validation date and calculate the statutory period precisely
- Speak to the case officer to establish what is actually holding it up
- Give you a straight recommendation on whether to appeal or wait
- Prepare the appeal and the full statement of case if you proceed
- Make a costs application where the delay has been unreasonable and unexplained