The Planning Inspectorate has confirmed that staff shortages at the organisation have led to delays of up to 10 weeks to validate planning and householder appeals, with worst affected categories appear to involve enforcement appeal inquires, listed building/conservation area consent appeals considered by written representations, while for some inquiry categories this means decisions may take 12 months or thereabouts.
The admission of problems has been posted on the Planning Portal. The post says: ‘We apologise for the delay and are taking measures to address this. We would like to thank you for your understanding and patience during this period. When your appeal has been confirmed as valid we will then issue a start date letter giving details of the timetable for the appeal.’
According the latest appeal handling times published by PINS, the worst affected categories appear to involve enforcement appeal inquires, listed building/conservation area consent appeals considered by written representations and appeals involving lawful development certificates.
PINS advised it was recruiting more staff to deal with the growing backlog.
