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Appeals & enforcement

Refused, or had a letter from enforcement?

A refusal or an enforcement letter is stressful, but it's rarely the end of the road. We look at the reasons, explain your options plainly and act quickly, because deadlines are short.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
✓Free home visit ✓No obligation ✓Honest advice ✓Fixed price Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will visit your property anywhere in our six council areas.
📞 Call 01206 656027 or book online →
Survey photos and 3D model of a historic coach house

Act quickly

Appeal deadlines are strict and can't usually be extended. If you've just been refused or received an enforcement notice, get in touch as soon as you can, ideally with the decision notice or letter to hand.

Your options after a refusal

  1. Revise and resubmit. If the officer's concerns can be overcome by changes to the design, a revised application is often the quickest route.
  2. Appeal. If the decision was wrong in planning terms, we can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, which makes an independent decision.
  3. A different route. Sometimes a lawful development certificate, prior approval or a smaller scheme achieves most of what you wanted.

We'll give you a frank view of your chances before you spend money on an appeal.

Enforcement and retrospective planning

If work has been done without permission, by you or a previous owner, the council may ask you to apply retrospectively or serve an enforcement notice. Benjamin's background in planning law means we can assess your position, respond to the council and prepare a retrospective application or an appeal.

Our appeals & enforcement services

Planning appealsFind out more → Retrospective applicationsFind out more → Enforcement noticesFind out more →
Benjamin PlunkettCharlie Plunkett

Who'll handle your project: Benjamin Plunkett, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, is your point of contact from the first site visit to the decision. Charlie Plunkett MCIAT produces the drawings.

About us
Recent projects

Appeals & Enforcement projects

See more
Proposed front elevation with cream render gable and brick ground floor
Extension Tendring

Raised roof and two-storey rear extension

A dated bungalow redesigned as a family home, reworked point by point after an earlier refusal.
The row of black weatherboarded cattery buildings with white-framed pens
New build Chelmsford

Retrospective permission for a five-building rural cattery

Planning permission for a cattery built as five separate buildings and a reception, rather than one long block, for better ventilation and cat welfare near Chelmsford.
The front of the cottage and its parking area, seen from the road
Extension Tendring

Off-street parking and EV charging for a village home

Planning permission to regularise a front driveway in Great Oakley after enforcement action, backed by a survey proving clear and safe visibility onto the road.
Rear elevation with the lowered extension roof and solar panels
Appeal Colchester

Lowering an extension roof in Colchester, won on appeal

After an extension roof was built taller than approved, we designed a lower roof that solved an enforcement case. The council refused it, and the Inspector allowed our appeal.
The detached interwar house before the extension, with its garage and steep lean-to roof
Appeal Ipswich

First-floor front extension in Ipswich, allowed on appeal

The council refused one part of a house extension scheme in Ipswich. We appealed, and the Inspector found our hipped-roof front extension was good design and allowed it.
The garden room with French doors and a glazed gable
Extension Tendring

Retrospective permission for a garden room

Retrospective planning permission for a garden room in Elmstead that was slightly too tall for permitted development, closing off an enforcement enquiry.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to appeal?

For householder applications it's normally 12 weeks from the date of the decision. For most other planning applications it's normally six months. Appeals against enforcement notices must be made before the notice takes effect, which is often only 28 days. Check your decision notice and contact us early.

Who decides an appeal?

An independent planning inspector appointed by the Planning Inspectorate, not the council that refused it.

Will an appeal cost me the council's costs if I lose?

Not usually. Each side normally pays its own costs. Costs can be awarded only if one side has behaved unreasonably.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
Free home visit

Thinking about a project?

Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will come to you, look at the property and tell you honestly what's likely to get approved. Free, with no obligation, anywhere in Tendring, Babergh, Colchester, Braintree, Maldon and Ipswich districts.

Planning consultants and chartered designers in one team: drawings designed to get approved, with the same people from site visit to decision.

Book a free home visit → Call 01206 656027
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