Why you may not need an appeal statement at all
Since 1 April 2026, most planning appeals in England no longer involve an appeal statement at all. Appeals against a refusal of planning permission – along with conditions appeals, prior approval refusals and most other appeals under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act – now follow the Part 1 ‘expedited’ written representations procedure, in which the inspector decides the case on the original application documents and a short summary on the appeal form.
If that’s your situation, our sister service My Planning Appeal explains how to make those few hundred words count.
But reports of the appeal statement’s death are exaggerated. Several important types of appeal require a full written statement, and in these cases the quality of that document decides the outcome.
When do you still write a full appeal statement?
You will still prepare a full statement of case where the appeal is against the council’s failure to determine your application in time (a non-determination appeal); where the appeal concerns listed building consent; where you are appealing an enforcement notice under section 174, with a statement supporting each ground of appeal; and where you are appealing the refusal of a lawful development certificate under section 195, which is decided on evidence and legal argument rather than planning merits.
A statement is also needed where the Planning Inspectorate decides that a case which started under the expedited procedure should instead follow the Part 2 procedure, a hearing or an inquiry – and in that situation you will usually be given just two weeks to produce it, which is not the moment to be starting from scratch.
For Part 2 appeals, the Inspectorate expects the statement to be concise and not normally longer than 3,000 words, with the conclusions briefly summarised at the end. Every word has to earn its place.
The structure of a good appeal statement
A well-organised statement usually contains background information (the appellant, the site address, the application reference, the decision date and the council’s reasons for refusal – or, in a non-determination case, the objections the council is most likely to raise); a description of the site and surrounding area; an outline of the proposed development; the relevant planning history; the relevant policies; and, most importantly, the assessment – your case.
Describing the site
Describe the site so the inspector can picture it, and with an eye to what matters. In most appeals the questions are whether the development harms the character of the area and neighbours’ living conditions, so describe the architectural character of the property and the pattern of development around it. Are the houses uniform or varied? Do they follow a consistent building line? Have many already been extended? Describe the relationship with the closest neighbours — distances, boundary treatments, differences in land levels, which windows face which way, the orientation of the buildings relative to the sun. And state any planning constraints: listing, conservation area, Green Belt, flood zone. These will be in the officer’s report, though it pays to check the officer got them right.
The planning history — and the fallback position
Tell the inspector about previous applications that bear on the proposal. If you scaled down an earlier, refused scheme, briefly explain how you took the council’s concerns on board. If you hold an unimplemented (‘extant’) permission for something similar, say so clearly: it may be a fallback position — a development you could lawfully build if the appeal fails — and if the appeal scheme causes no materially greater harm than the fallback, that is a powerful argument for approval.
Crucially, provide copies of any decision notices and plans you rely on, appended to the statement. Inspectors do not do their own research — no downloading old applications, no Google Street View. If it matters to your case, it must be in your submission.
Policies — interpret, don’t transcribe
There is no need to copy out the development plan. The officer’s report will list the relevant policies and the council will supply them. The value you can add is interpretation: pointing out that a criterion is written for new dwellings rather than extensions, or that guidance qualified by ‘in most cases’ or ‘where practical’ is meant to be applied flexibly. If the officer’s report sets out the policies fully and fairly, you can dispense with a policy section altogether.
The assessment — narrow the issues
The heart of the statement is the assessment, and the discipline is to narrow the case to the one or two issues that actually decide it. If the council’s sole concern is overshadowing of one neighbouring window, that is the issue to address — note briefly that nothing else is in dispute, and spend your words where the argument is. In a non-determination appeal you do the same in mirror image: identify the objections the council would most likely have raised, and answer them.
A statement does not need to be long, and padding reads as a lack of confidence. Do not criticise the council or the case officer — how the council behaved is not a material consideration, and the inspector will form an independent view on the planning merits alone. Do not get angry, however badly you feel you have been treated; the inspector is impartial and cannot share your frustration. If the council has genuinely behaved unreasonably, the remedy is an application for costs, not a furious paragraph.
Be sparing with ‘precedents’. Another approval is useful only where the specific relationship at issue — say, between an extension and a neighbouring window — is genuinely comparable, which is rare. Quote another decision only to show the council has been inconsistent in like-for-like circumstances, and never worry if you have no precedents to cite: inspectors prefer to make their own assessment anyway.
Get it written by someone who does this every week
We prepare appeal statements for non-determination, enforcement, listed building and lawful development certificate appeals across England and Wales — hundreds of appeals a year, on fixed fees agreed up front. Get in touch for a free assessment of your case.
