After the decision: appeals and legal challenges

Last updated: 2 July 2025

For a local community, the refusal of a planning application for a potentially damaging development is often a cause for celebration. However, the fight might not be over yet as the applicant has a right to appeal the decision. 

Under Section 58 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, if a local planning authority (LPA) refuses to grant planning permission for a development, the applicant can appeal against that refusal. The applicant can also appeal against conditions imposed on a planning permission, if they are not happy with them, or if the LPA does not make a decision on a planning application within the statutory determination period (usually eight or 16 weeks, depending on the type of application). 

 Appeals must be made within four months of the decision. 

There is also a right of appeal against other planning decisions including advertisement consent, listed building consent and planning enforcement notices. Different time periods for appealing will apply, depending on the type of planning decision. 

In Northern Ireland, appeals may only be made by or on behalf of the person who made the planning application.  There is no ‘third party’ right of appeal and this means that objectors or other parties who may have an interest in the proposal cannot make an appeal if they are unhappy about the decision. They can only participate in an applicant’s appeal against the refusal of a planning application. 

The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) is responsible for all appeals about planning decisions. The PAC is an independent body and is not part of any government department. Members of the PAC are public appointees and are called Commissioners.   

The decision on an appeal may be made by a single Commissioner (a single decision) or a panel of four or more Commissioners (a panel decision). The Chief Commissioner decides whether the appeal should be a single or panel decision.  

For regionally significant or called-in planning applications, the Department of Infrastructure (DfI) makes the decision. After they have considered the application, including representations from the public, the DfI may decide to request the PAC to hold a public inquiry. 

Alternatively, the DfI may serve a notice on the applicant and LPA indicating the decision which it proposes to make (referred to as a Notice of Opinion). The applicant or LPA can then request a hearing before the PAC within the period specified in the Notice of Opinion. 

In both situations, the PAC is responsible for conducting a public local inquiry or hearing. A Commissioner will examine all the evidence presented, visit the application site and prepare a report with recommendations to the DfI on how the application should be determined. The DfI must consider the Commissioner's report before making its final decision on the application but is not obliged to accept the recommendation. 

There are three types of appeal procedure: written representations (with or without an accompanied site visit), a hearing or public local inquiry. The appellant (the person making the appeal), the LPA or the DfI have the right to request a hearing.  

Most planning appeals are decided by the written representations procedure. With this procedure the PAC considers written evidence from the appellant, the LPA and anyone else who has an interest, and will also visit the appeal site.  

The PAC conducts both formal and informal hearings in-person with participants being physically present at a venue (eg, a council office, town hall or their offices in Belfast) or ‘virtually’ where participants connect remotely to an online video conference.  

A hearing is a round table discussion led by a Commissioner who identifies the issues to be discussed based on the evidence received and any representations made. The appellant and LPA must send their statements of case (written evidence) to the PAC before the hearing is held. A site visit will be carried out as part of the hearing process.  

A public inquiry is the most formal of the appeal procedures, because it usually involves larger or more complicated appeals (eg, for regionally significant or called-in applications). These are often cases where expert evidence is presented, and witnesses are cross-examined (questioned). A public inquiry may last for several days, or even weeks. They can involve large teams of professional experts and specialists such as barristers, solicitors, environmental experts (eg, ecologists, wildlife experts) and roads engineers. It is not a court of law, but the proceedings will often seem to be quite similar, and participants are often represented by a legal professional.  

An award of costs is where one party in an appeal (eg, the appellant or LPA) is required to pay either the full or partial costs of another party. Costs are awarded when one party has acted unreasonably, and that unreasonable behaviour has directly cost the other party money. Examples of unreasonable behaviour could be missing deadlines, introducing new reasons for refusal or new grounds of appeal at a late stage, or providing information that is clearly false or inaccurate. Costs are generally only awarded in very limited circumstances. Applications for costs are considered as part of the appeal process. The PAC will only award costs when one or more of the parties in the appeal claim costs; they don’t instigate a cost award themselves.  

The LPA or DfI will send copies of all representations received on an application to the PAC.  Everyone who made representations will be invited to take part in the appeals process. 

All planning appeals are advertised in the local press. Interested parties who submit representations are invited to participate in the appeal proceedings and have the same opportunity as the LPA and appellant to make their views known to the PAC.  

Hearings and inquiries are open to members of the public and local people are encouraged to take part as local knowledge and opinion can often be a valuable addition to the evidence given by the appellant and the LPA. However, those wanting to participate or have a say in the appeal (rather than just observe) must have registered an interest beforehand. 

An interested party can seek the help of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman, who deals with complaints about the conduct of a council, such as them not following proper planning procedures. However, the Ombudsman does not deal with complaints about the specific details or merits of a planning application.  

Planning decisions, such as the grant of planning permission by an LPA, may be challenged by way of a judicial review. This process involves an application to the High Court for permission to proceed and is restricted to serious mistakes or procedural flaws. To be successful, a judicial review must demonstrate that the decision was unlawful, irrational, unreasonable or unfair and (crucially) if it had not been taken there is a strong chance that there would have been a different outcome for the claimant (the person challenging the decision). 

However, it is important to note, a judicial review is not a re-run of the rights and wrongs of the decision (the ‘merits’) but a review of the processes and procedures by which the decision was made.  

Significantly, judicial review is the only way that a third-party objector can challenge the grant of planning permission by an LPA.  

A judicial review of a planning decision must be started by an application to the High Court within three months of the date of the decision in question. However, before that application can be made, judicial review is subject to what is known as a ‘pre-action protocol’. This encourages the person considering a judicial review to first set out their complaint in writing to the public body concerned, with adequate time for a response before the three-month deadline. This gives the body concerned an opportunity to explain why its decision was lawful, or to amend or reverse its decision where it concedes that an error has been made. In some cases, this enables the claimant to achieve their objectives without incurring heavy legal costs. The pre-action protocol is expected to be a genuine attempt to resolve matters and avoid court proceedings.  

Government guidance – planning appeals 

PAC guidance – public inquiries and hearings  

Department of Justice guidance – Judicial Review