Performance update – August 2022

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:

• 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 statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
• They show that the number of appeals submitted that were valid on first submission between April and June 2022 (61.2%) was a slight improvement on the previous three months (59.8%), but we have ambitions to increase this significantly. We are currently working with local planning authorities on a project to improve our digital services, including making it clearer for appellants how to use the appeal service. This should reduce the number of incomplete appeals which cause delays. Follow this guide carefully when submitting an appeal so that your case is not delayed and more of our time is spent on progressing appeals.

• Alongside the focus on speeding up decisions we remain committed to retaining and improving the quality of decision making. The experimental statistics show between April and June 2022, 831 appeal cases were quality assured. This represents 22% of all decisions issued and includes 598 by Inspectors in Training as part of their learning.

• There are currently 62 local plan examinations in progress and many Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) at various stages of their progress through the planning system. They include 69 national infrastructure schemes where we are providing advice before submission, 12 applications are being considered by us and there are 11 proposals where we have completed our recommendations and the Secretary of State’s decision is awaited. These are vital to the ongoing support by The Planning Inspectorate to the country’s economic recovery.