Tom Warth (Chief Operating Officer) shares what the Planning Inspectorate has done in the last three years to make planning much more certain for the whole sector.
Certainty matters in planning. Delays and uncertainty have real consequences — for communities, for investment, and for the planning system as a whole.
So, I wanted to share honestly what we’ve done in the last three years to improve our productivity and make planning much more certain for the whole sector.
Where we were Tom Warth, Chief Operating OfficerOur Strategic Plan 2024-2027 set a clear ambition: reduce backlogs and deliver faster, more consistent decisions.
The ambition was born of necessity. Three years ago, we were in a difficult position. In June 2023, live appeals in the system had peaked at 14,159, with only 23% of decisions being made within the ministerial measure of 20 weeks for appeals proceeding by written representations and 26 weeks for appeals proceeding by hearings or inquiries.
How we turned things aroundBy April 2026, the picture looks considerably different:
Open appeals down from 14,159 to 9,382. Decisions within the Ministerial Measure up from 23% to 58%. Average times for planning and enforcement appeals proceeding by inquiry in April were 22 weeks (median)and 31 weeks (mean). Average times for planning and enforcement appeals proceeding by hearings in April were 22 weeks (median) and 24 weeks (mean). In April, 63% of planning appeals proceeding by written representations have met the 20-week measure. These account for three-quarters of all appeals we receive.The statistics provided above are taken from internal management information.
We’ve got here through a whole range of interventions.
A restructure into a fully regional approach in April 2025 gave our operations leads and case teams a much greater sense of ownership of appeals for LPAs, improving accountability and strengthening relationships. We invested in getting our data right — making sure operational leaders could see reliable, transparent performance information and act on it. We made dozens of smaller process improvements that, together, created real momentum. We invested in training for our inspectors to increase their productivity and our ability to deploy them flexibly. A systematic approach to tackling the backlog of cases, focusing on particular casework types one at a time rather than seeking to improve everything in one go.During this period of improvement, our quality assurance work shows that the quality of the decisions we issue has remained at the high-level we pride ourselves on and that people expect.
What comes next?This blog is by no means a way of suggesting we’ve cracked it and it is plain sailing from here on in. However, it does demonstrate how performance and productivity can improve through a combination of taking an honest and practical approach, and it definitely helps having highly skilled and dedicated teams.
As we head into the final year of our Strategic Plan, of course there is still more to do, in particular in improving times for enforcement appeals proceeding by written representations and appeals involving trees, high hedges and hedgerows.
Historically, focus has centred on the appeals service because that's where the volume and data have been strongest.
But a similar focus on output and productivity is embedded across all our services - local plans, infrastructure, specialist casework like rights of way and commons and applications like crown developments.
All of these services are seeing significant changes to policy and legislation with demands and expectations on the Inspectorate increasing. We’ve taken the lessons from the past few years and are applying them across our services, so we are ready for this challenge. Whether it is improving our data, investing in recruitment and training, developing new digital tools or engaging with external stakeholders, our cross-functional service teams are in a good place to help deliver the Government’s ambitions.
The progress in the appeals service shows that sustained, structured effort really can shift the dial. We're determined to apply those lessons right across the organisation — and we'd always welcome your feedback on where the system is working well and where it isn't.
seen at 16:39, 17 June in Planning Inspectorate.