Insights and analysis for UK planning professionals: written for consultants, LPA officers, barristers, architects, and developers. Articles cover policy changes, procedural reforms, costs awards, and how to use inspector reasoning and outcome data to build stronger cases.
The Q4 2025–26 allow rate rose to 31.7% — but the headline conceals regional gaps of 17 percentage points and a procedure divide that changes the baseline for every practitioner.
Since January, PINS has been publishing decisions under a new 600XXXX reference format on a new platform. Here's why that matters — and how to make sure you're not missing them.
A practical guide to using appeal decisions and inspector reasoning to build stronger planning submissions — before you submit, not after.
Searching your LPA portal alone creates an informational echo chamber. Here's how integrating appeal intelligence builds a stronger, more authoritative planning case.
The new PINS rules apply based on when your application was submitted to the LPA — not when you received your refusal or filed your appeal. Here's what that means in practice.
From February 2026, PINS has widened what counts as unreasonable behaviour. With the 'Submit Once' model, a misleading claim carries real financial consequences.
In planning, 'trust me' is not a valid citation. With the 2026 PINS changes, the ability to trace and verify every argument has never been more important.
From 1 April 2026, your planning submission must do all the heavy lifting. Here's how targeted planning intelligence — and correct policy interpretation — can sharpen your argument from the start.
The 2026 PINS guidance shifts the entire burden of defence onto the Officer's Report and Committee Minutes. Transparency is now a financial necessity.
After 1 April 2026, you can no longer 'top up' evidence at appeal. If it wasn't in the original application, the Inspector must disregard it.
From 1 April 2026, the Statement of Case is gone. Your initial planning submission must carry the full weight of your appeal argument from day one.
The Planning Inspectorate's Q3 2025–26 statistics cover October to December 2025. The headline figures are significant — but the patterns within the data tell a more nuanced story.
The Planning Inspectorate updated its AI guidance in February 2026. Here is what it says, what it means in practice, and how planningappeals.co.uk is built to align with it.