How Long Do You Have to Object to a Planning Application?
4 min read
The short answer is 21 days from the date of the notice, and in practice usually longer. The useful answer needs a bit more detail, because the published deadline and the real one are rarely the same date.
The published consultation period
When a council validates a planning application it has to publicise it. Depending on the type of application that means writing to neighbours, putting a notice on or near the site, or advertising in a local newspaper.
The consultation period runs from that point. It is normally:
- 21 days for most applications, running from the date on the neighbour letter or the site notice
- 21 days from the newspaper advertisement where one is required, which is common for major applications, listed buildings and conservation areas
- 30 days where an Environmental Impact Assessment has been submitted
If more than one form of publicity is used, the period generally runs from whichever ends last. That can give you a few extra days over what the neighbour letter says.
The real deadline is usually later
Here is the part that is not on the letter.
A council must consider all representations received before it makes its decision. In practice that means most councils will accept and take into account comments arriving after the published deadline, right up until the case officer signs off their report.
For a householder application the council is working to an eight week determination period, so there is often four or five weeks between the end of the consultation and the decision. For a major application it is thirteen weeks, and in reality frequently much longer, with big schemes taking six months or more.
So if you have just missed the deadline, do not assume it is over. Send your objection anyway, and send it now.
Why you should not rely on that
Two reasons.
The officer writes their report before the decision is issued, and once it is written a late objection has to be genuinely significant to reopen anything. If your letter arrives the day after the report goes to the committee agenda, it may be reported as a late representation in a one line addendum rather than being properly weighed.
And the council is not obliged to accept late comments. Most do. Some do not, particularly where an application is being determined quickly under delegated powers.
How to find your actual deadline
Do not rely on the letter, which may have taken days to arrive and may not reflect a later site notice.
Go to your council's planning portal, search for the application reference, and look at the application page. It will show the consultation expiry date, and often also the target decision date. Those two dates are the ones that matter: the first is the published deadline, the second is roughly how long you really have.
If the target decision date has already passed, check the decision status. Applications frequently run well past their target.
Different deadlines to watch for
Reserved matters. If an outline permission has already been granted, the principle of development is settled. A reserved matters application deals only with the details left over, typically appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. You can object, but only on those details.
Conditions. An application to discharge or vary a condition has its own consultation. If the original permission had a condition protecting something you care about, and the applicant is applying to remove or amend it, that is your moment.
Amended plans. If the applicant submits revised drawings during the application, the council will often reconsult, and a new period opens. Your original objection stands, but it is worth checking whether the amendment addresses your point or makes it worse.
Appeals. If an application is refused and the applicant appeals, there is a separate opportunity to comment to the Planning Inspectorate. Comments made to the council on the original application are usually forwarded, but you can also write again. Appeal deadlines are strict and are not extended.
If the deadline really has gone
If the decision has already been issued, objecting is no longer possible. What remains depends on the situation.
If permission was granted, you cannot appeal. Only the applicant has appeal rights, and only against refusal or against conditions. Judicial review is the only route, it challenges the lawfulness of the process rather than the merits, and it must generally be brought within six weeks.
If what gets built does not match the approved drawings, that is a planning enforcement matter and worth reporting to the council.
If the permission is never implemented, it will normally lapse after three years.
What to do if you are short of time
Send something now and follow up.
A short letter that identifies the application, says you object, and names your grounds is registered as an objection. You can then send a fuller submission with the policy references a few days later, and ask the officer to read the two together. That is much safer than spending a week perfecting a letter that arrives after the report is written.
If you are very close to the deadline, email the case officer directly rather than using the online form. Their name and email are on the application page.
We tell you the deadline as soon as we find your application, along with whether the consultation has closed and whether a decision has already been issued. Enter your planning reference and the check is free.