Which issues appear in successful appeals?
Analysis of 9,906 allowed or dismissed London appeals: how outcomes vary with the main issues stated by inspectors and by borough.
Themes are matched deterministically within the “Main Issue(s)” section only. A decision can appear in more than one theme.
Read: Among themes with at least 100 cases, Overdevelopment & Scale has the highest observed allow rate (32%, n=138) and Flood & Drainage the lowest (14%, n=312). This is correlation, not proof that an issue caused the outcome; one decision can match several themes.
Top 8 boroughs by appeal volume. Only includes boroughs with 20+ appeals.
These are the eight largest borough cohorts. Across all qualifying boroughs, Hammersmith and Fulham is highest at 44% and Southwark lowest at 17%. The figures describe outcomes, not why they differ: case mix, appeal route and decision quality may all contribute.
A costs award can be made where a party behaved unreasonably and caused avoidable expense. This archive records whether costs were awarded, but not the assessed £ amount; the rate should not be read as evidence of motive or bad faith.
Data source: Planning Inspectorate decision records. The archive contains 10,156 London records. The headline uses the 9,906 with a binary allowed or dismissed outcome: 2,666 allowed (26.9%).
Themes: Main-issue sections were extracted from 8,886 decisions. 8,207 matched at least one published theme; 1,699 did not and are excluded from theme rates. Each appeal can match multiple themes. A theme's allow rate is allowed ÷ (allowed + dismissed) within that theme, not a causal estimate.
Boroughs: Only includes LPAs with 20+ appeals (all 33 London boroughs qualify). Sorted by volume, not by allow-rate.
Costs: the record flags appeals in which costs were awarded. An award requires unreasonable behaviour causing unnecessary expense; it is not automatic, does not by itself establish bad faith, and the assessed amount is not published in the PINS decision data.