Alongside this, we update the appeals handling times data to give customers the latest information on the average time it takes to receive a decision.
In summary:
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The number of open cases rose to 13,988 by the end of July. We are currently receiving more cases than we can decide, though we issued 1,426 decisions in July which was 232 more than the previous month. We continue to focus on casework with the most community interest and those key to supporting the nation's economic recovery, such as national infrastructure applications, local plan examinations and appeals needing a hearing or inquiry. We encourage appellants to work closely with their local planning authorities and other interested parties to resolve issues locally and help to reduce pressure on the appeals system.
- New Ministerial performance Measures for The Planning Inspectorate were announced earlier this year, with an expectation we reduce average decision times. From April we implemented a faster process for planning appeals requiring a hearing and the first cases heard in the improved process are now being issued within the 24-26 weeks we are aiming for. Decision times for appeals by inquiry remain positive with a median time of 31 weeks in July 2022. We will continue to work to speed up decision times whilst maintaining the standards of our decisions.
- Since the new measures were adopted, we have been working to find better ways of presenting our performance data to make it clearer and more user-friendly. This month, alongside our usual performance statistics format, we have published an experimental data set, focusing on a small number of the new Ministerial measures. Any feedback on the presentation is very welcome and should be sent to
