Planning application refused: what to do next

 

The letter has arrived and it says refused. Having a planning application refused is a horrible moment, especially if you have spent months and a fair bit of money getting this far. You almost certainly do not have to decide anything today.

Having a planning application refused means the council has said no to this scheme, for these reasons. It is not a ban on ever building anything there, and it is not a judgement on you.

You do have a deadline, and it depends on what you applied for. This page explains what the refusal actually means, the four things you can do about it, and how to work out which one is right for you.

 

First, read the decision notice properly

 

Everything that happens next turns on one part of that letter: the reasons for refusal. They are usually numbered, and there are often only one or two of them.

Read them slowly, because they are the questions that any fresh application or any appeal has to answer. People often remember the word refused and never really take in why.

Ask the council for the planning officer’s report as well, if it is not already on their website. It is normally far longer than the decision notice and it tells you what the officer actually thought, which is much more useful than the formal wording.

Then ask yourself one question, and be honest about the answer. Did the council disagree with your judgement, or did it refuse because something was missing?

 

You have four choices, not one

 

Most people think that a planning application refused leaves them with two options, appeal or give up. It does not. There are four routes and appealing is only one of them:

• change the scheme and apply again
• appeal to the Planning Inspectorate
• accept the decision and leave it
• get someone to read the refusal and tell you which of the first three is worth doing

The last one sounds like a cop out, but a refusal is a technical document and reading it properly is a skill. An hour of somebody’s time can save you a wasted appeal.

 

When applying again is the better answer

 

This is the most important thing on this page, and it catches out a great many people.

If changing your scheme would deal with the council’s reasons, the government’s own guidance says you should make a new application rather than appeal. Since 1st April 2026 that stopped being friendly advice and became simple practicality, because an appeal can no longer carry your changes.

So if you were refused because the extension was too big, and you would be happy to make it smaller, an appeal is the wrong tool. You would be asking an Inspector to approve the big version, which is the version the council already turned down.

The same goes for a missing document. If the refusal says there was no flood risk assessment, no ecology survey or no design and access statement, do not assume you can cure that by producing the missing report at appeal. Under the post-April 2026 Part 1 procedure, new evidence that should have been before the council will not normally be accepted, although the Inspectorate can transfer an appeal to another procedure where the case requires it. Turning up at appeal with information that should have been in the application can also expose you to a costs award.

A fresh application starts a new decision, and a new decision carries a new right of appeal. Talk to the council first about whether they would look on an amended scheme more favourably. See our guide to planning fees for what a further application will cost you.

 

When appealing is the right answer

 

Appealing makes sense where the council had everything it needed and simply took a different view from you. That is a disagreement about judgement, and an Inspector is there to take a fresh look at exactly that.

Two things are worth knowing before you start. Only the person who made the application can appeal, so if it was not your application you cannot appeal the decision, whatever you think of it. And an appeal is meant to be a last resort rather than a bargaining tactic, so you should be confident that your application already made the full case.

 

How long you have after a planning application is refused

 

This depends entirely on what you applied for, and the range is wide. A refused householder application gives you twelve weeks. Most other refusals give you six months. Works to a protected tree and a high hedges remedial notice give you just twenty eight days.

There is also one trap worth knowing about straight away. If an enforcement notice has been served on the same or very similar development, a much shorter twenty eight day deadline can override every period above.

For an ordinary section 78 planning appeal, missing the statutory deadline normally ends the right of appeal, so treat the date as immovable. Specialist regimes can work differently: some, including tree preservation order appeals, contain a limited discretion to allow a later appeal. Find the deadline for your own route before you do anything else, and see our guide to appeal timescales for the full list.

 

What an appeal costs

 

There is no fee to make a planning appeal. Every party is expected to meet its own expenses, so there is nothing to pay the Planning Inspectorate for handling it.

That does not make it free. If you use a planning consultant or a solicitor you pay them, and costs can be awarded against a party that has behaved unreasonably, which is covered on our page about an award of costs in an appeal. The fee you paid the council for the original application is a separate matter again, so see our guide to planning fees in England.

 

How you actually appeal

 

Appeals are made online through the government’s Appeal a Planning Decision service. You will need your application reference and the decision notice.

A few practical points that catch people out:

• the Planning Inspectorate must have your appeal form and the essential documents before the deadline expires, so leave yourself room
• if you are appealing more than one application, each needs its own separate appeal
• if you do not own the whole site you must notify the other owners, and any agricultural tenants, and that notice has to be served within the 21 days before the appeal is made
• do not appeal until you are ready, because requests to pause an appeal are refused except in exceptional cases
• if you used artificial intelligence to draft or substantially change material, Planning Inspectorate guidance says you should declare that when you send it in

 

What happens once you have appealed

 

Most appeals are decided on paper. Nobody meets, nobody gives evidence out loud, and an Inspector reads the file, usually visits the site and then issues a decision. That route is called written representations, and how much you are allowed to put in depends on which version of it you are in. See our guide to written representations appeals.

A smaller number of appeals are dealt with face to face instead, at a hearing or an inquiry. See hearings and inquiries for what happens at each and who gets to speak.

If your appeal goes to an inquiry, expect a local group to be able to take part as a Rule 6 party, which lets it call its own evidence against you.

The Inspector may need to see the site, and sometimes to view it from a neighbour’s property. A site visit is not a chance to make your case, and the Inspector will not discuss the merits with anybody there.

 

If the appeal is refused as well

 

An Inspector’s decision is the end of the road as far as the planning system goes. There is no further appeal to anybody.

The only route beyond it is a challenge in the High Court, and that is not a second go at the planning merits. It asks whether the decision was made lawfully, and it runs on a much shorter clock of its own. See our page on judicial review and section 288 challenges before assuming it is open to you.

You can also simply apply again. A refused appeal does not stop you making a new application for a different scheme.

 

If it was not your application

 

If your neighbour was refused and has appealed, or you objected to something and want to know whether you get another say, this page is not the one you want. See objecting to a planning appeal instead.

For the appeal system as a whole, see our guide to planning appeals.

See also our guide to the types of planning application.

In rare cases a refusal leaves land with no worthwhile use at all. If that is your position, a purchase notice can require the council to buy the land from you, although the test is a hard one to meet.

 

 

Planning application refused relevant legislation

 

Links below go to legislation.gov.uk. Always check the “Changes to Legislation” panel at the top of each provision, because amendments are often listed there before they are written into the text.

• Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 78, the right of appeal against refusal, conditions or non-determination
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 20, the right of appeal on listed building consent
• Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (SI 2015/595), the appeal deadlines, and the definitions of householder and minor commercial development
• Town and Country Planning (Appeals) (Written Representations Procedure) (England) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/452), the written representations procedure, as amended in 2026

Other Planning Appeal Sections

 

Planning Application Refused Page Updated: 29th August 2026