Planning Inspectorate Has 10,025 Open Cases

The Planning Inspectorate had 10,025 cases open at the end of September 2026, according to official statistics published on 22 October. That is slightly higher than August and comes as receipts of section 78 planning appeals continue to exceed decisions issued. The figure covers the Inspectorate’s wider casework, not 10,025 outstanding planning permission appeals alone.

The same publication reports 18,478 appeal decisions over the 12 months to September, including 1,365 decisions in the latest month. The median time for all cases decided in September was 19 weeks. Planning cases were faster at around 17 weeks, while enforcement case decisions had a median of 65 weeks.

For anyone preparing an appeal, I would be careful about which of those numbers gets quoted. A single average obscures enormous differences between a straightforward householder appeal, an inquiry and enforcement proceedings. Nor does the time taken by cases finished last month predict precisely how long an appeal lodged today will take.

Why the Planning Inspectorate has 10,025 open cases

The published caseload total rose from 9,864 at the end of August to 10,025 at the end of September. The Planning Inspectorate reports that the open total has been broadly stable at about 10,000 since January, although it has edged upwards recently. It is not accurate to describe all of these as live section 78 planning appeals.

Of September’s open cases, 8,177 were recorded under written representations, 307 under hearings and 265 under inquiries. Another 1,276 had no procedure type yet recorded. These categories include cases at different points of the process, including matters where a hearing has finished but the decision has not yet been issued.

The Inspectorate also warns of a known anomaly: the open-case total does not always reconcile exactly with incoming and closed case counts. It has removed 247 duplicate cases linked to its Manage Appeals system. Those data-quality disclosures matter when discussing month-to-month changes of just a few hundred cases.

Section 78 appeal receipts increase by 10%

The more telling figure for ordinary planning appeals is the flow of section 78 cases. The Planning Inspectorate received 9,800 section 78 appeals in October 2025 to September 2026, up 10% on the preceding year. The latest July to September quarter saw 2,469 received, 9.9% more than the corresponding quarter of 2025.

Across the latest 12 months, the quarterly average was 2,450 appeals received compared with 2,275 decisions. More importantly, the Inspectorate says section 78 receipts exceeded decisions in every quarter of 2026 so far, reversing the earlier pattern when decisions frequently ran ahead of receipts.

This distinction is important: 10,025 is the total open casework across procedure types and specialist work, whereas 9,800 is the number of section 78 appeals received over 12 months. Neither is the number of planning permissions refused by councils, and neither should be described as a stand-alone count of unresolved section 78 appeals.

Planning appeals move faster than enforcement cases

The Planning Inspectorate says the median time to decide all September cases was 19 weeks, compared with 18 weeks over the previous 12 months. For the narrower planning casework category, the September median was about 17 weeks and the 12-month median about 16 weeks. The all-case average, or mean, was much higher at 28.7 weeks over the year, reflecting the influence of exceptionally long cases.

Procedure is an important distinction. Across the last 12 months, written representation cases had a median of 18 weeks, hearings 24 weeks and inquiries 27 weeks. For September alone the reported medians were 19, 22 and 27 weeks respectively. About 95% of decisions with an allocated procedure were handled by written representations.

Enforcement appeal decisions are a different proposition. The September median was 65 weeks and the 12-month median was 66 weeks. A disputed enforcement notice can involve questions about the alleged breach, lawful use, the requirements of the notice and the appropriate remedy. It would be seriously misleading to advise an enforcement appellant on the basis of the headline 19-week figure.

One in three section 78 appeals allowed

The allowed rate for section 78 planning appeals in July to September 2026 was 31%, unchanged from the previous quarter. The Inspectorate records 670 allowed appeals during the latest quarter, one more than in April to June. The allowed percentage refers to that defined set of decided section 78 cases, not every application made to a local council.

An average allowed rate is not a forecast for any particular site. Planning appeals turn on the adopted plan, national policy, development impacts, procedural circumstances and the evidence before the decision maker. An appealing percentage cannot repair missing technical evidence or a weak planning case.

The figures also conceal differences in procedure and type of proposal. Written representations account for most decisions, while hearing and inquiry samples are smaller and more susceptible to short-term volatility. Anyone quoting the 31% headline should be clear about what is included and the quarter measured.

Inspector numbers increase, but case mix remains important

The Planning Inspectorate employed 491 salaried Planning Inspectors at the end of September 2026, equivalent to 450 full-time posts. That compares with 461 individuals and 420.8 full-time equivalents in August. The official series excludes certain contract and non-salaried decision makers, so it is not a complete count of everyone providing decisions.

The Inspectorate handles more than planning appeals. Its workload includes examinations of development plans, nationally significant infrastructure processes, called-in or recovered cases, enforcement and other specialist matters. Some published entries are recommendations to the Secretary of State rather than operative final decisions.

Extra headcount cannot be translated directly into an equivalent increase in appeal capacity. The mix of cases, training, legal complexity and the proportion of Inspector time taken by inquiries and examinations all matter. Nor does the year-end headcount tell us how quickly newly recruited Inspectors will influence output.

What the latest figures mean for applicants

For an appellant, the sensible starting point is to identify whether the proposed challenge is a section 78 appeal, householder appeal, enforcement appeal or another route. The Planning Inspectorate measures decision time from the valid date to the decision letter. It warns that cases decided in one month may have been submitted many months earlier.

I would build a programme around the particular procedure and evidence requirements rather than promising the 19-week overall median. Where an inquiry or enforcement challenge is likely, project finance, holding costs and the consequences of delay should be considered before lodging. None of the figures alters statutory appeal time limits or an Inspector’s duty to assess the individual case.

For those monitoring the system, the signal worth watching is whether section 78 decisions again begin to exceed incoming appeals consistently. A stable average processing time alongside a growing inflow could mask pressure on the open caseload. The next releases should also show whether the September staffing increase becomes sustained additional decision-making capacity.

Original evidence and territorial scope

The primary source is the Planning Inspectorate’s 22 October 2026 statistical release, alongside the statistical release documents and data tables. For the procedural framework, see Planning Geek’s planning appeals guide.

The GOV.UK release is labelled England and Wales, although its descriptions of ordinary planning appeals mainly address the Inspectorate’s English functions. This story should not be mistaken for performance figures for Scotland’s DPEA, Northern Ireland’s Planning Appeals Commission or Wales’s distinct appeals administration. The Planning Inspectorate statistics also do not announce a new law, a change to appeal rights or a decision in any individual case.