Design Appeals in England in the 1990s: An Aggregate Analysis

Design is a critical area in development control practice, and design appeals constitute a particularly important set of control cases. This is especially true in Britain where developers make much more use of the appeal system than elsewhere, and where central government utilises appeals to control local planning practice. This paper examines trends in all appeals over the period 1981-95 and trends in design appeals during 1991-95. It reveals high proportions of design appeals, but stable dismissal rates close to the appeal average. Three kinds of design appeal are identified and their incidence and dismissal rates assessed. Analysis of design issues reveals the dominance of contextual factors numerically, but no wide variances in dismissal rates from issue to issue. Intrinsic design has been a relatively minor design issue, while landscaping has been almost entirely ignored at appeal. However, design issues, broadly interpreted, remain the dominant concerns at appeal. There is no evidence of design appeals becoming more likely to be dismissed as a result of more positive government advice, or as a result of the introduction of a plan-led system which introduces district-wide design policies for the first time in most areas.