Adopted 15.10.2018. Reviewed and updated 18.05.2026, PL11/26

Overview

Periodically, the Parish Council receives correspondence from Cornwall Council to notify them that an appeal has been received by the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate’s post-1 April 2026 procedure means most appeals relating to applications dated on or after 1 April 2026 will follow the Part 1 written-representation procedure. For Part 1 appeals, interested people cannot submit comments at appeal stage; application-stage representations are forwarded and considered. Part 2 written-representation appeals, hearings and inquiries may provide an opportunity for further representations. The Parish Council is not obliged to submit additional appeal comments and should only do so where justified.

Detail

When an appeal notification is received, a Parish Council Officer will identify and record: (a) the planning application reference; (b) the appeal reference; (c) the date of the planning application, where relevant to the appeal procedure; (d) the appeal procedure identified by the Planning Inspectorate; (e) whether interested-party or local-council appeal-stage comments are permitted; and (f) the deadline and method for any permitted representation or withdrawal/modification of earlier comments.

Where the appeal procedure does not permit further representations, the officer will notify the Planning Committee that the Parish Council’s application-stage representation/minutes will be relied upon by the Inspectorate and that no further Parish Council representation can be submitted unless specifically requested by the Planning Inspectorate.

Where the appeal procedure permits further representations, the Parish Council may decide whether to submit a further representation, modify an earlier representation or take no further action.

Procedure

The Parish Council recognises that some applications are sensitive/contentious and can evoke strong public feeling and an appeal submission could be an opportunity to add further detail to its original representation.

When receiving correspondence from Cornwall Council notifying the Parish Council of an appeal, the following steps will be taken:

  • Parish Council Officer to circulate the letter by email amongst the Planning Committee, noting the appropriate deadline for the Inspectorate’s receipt of representations and permitted method.
  • The Planning Committee will respond by email as soon as possible, by the deadline outlined by the Parish Council Officer, if the appeal warrants further comment by the Parish Council, or if existing comments already submitted require modification, or if no action is required.
  • Member/Members of the Planning Committee who have sufficient reason to provide further comment (or wish to modify the Parish Council’s existing comment) should approach the Chair of the Committee and Clerk. The Chair and Clerk will then liaise with, and request, Cllrs A/B/C to prepare a representation on behalf of the Parish Council.
  • The prepared representation will be sent electronically to Committee Members for their comment- email-consultation mechanism.
  • Time permitting, an extraordinary meeting will be held.
  • Where an external planning deadline does not allow an ordinary or extraordinary meeting to be convened, the Clerk is authorised to submit the Parish Council’s urgent procedural response, after consultation with the Planning Committee Chair and Vice-Chair and/or members of the Planning Committee (via the email-consultation mechanism). The response must be based on the Parish Council’s original resolution, any new material planning information supplied by Committee Members, Cornwall Council, relevant development plan policies and material planning considerations. Any urgent action taken under this delegation must be reported to the next Planning Committee meeting.

The email-consultation mechanism is a consultation to inform the delegated officer’s action, not a formal committee vote.