Planning Appeals

If you wish to start the process of a planning appeal, this should be requested in the form of a letter submitted to the Minister of the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture. Details on the Planning appeals process can be found on the DEFA Planning Appeals Page. 

The administrators of planning appeals are based in the Cabinet Office, they co-ordinate with an independent qualified Inspector who resides outside the Isle of Man. This ensures that appeals are handled in a fair and open manner.

The planning appeals system is government by Article 8 of the Town and Country (Development Procedure) Order 2013.

How appeals are considered

The Planning Inspector will consider all documentation that made up the original application and further written submissions, which are sought by the Appeals Secretary from all interested parties.

When requesting written submissions, the Appeals Secretary notifies interested parties of the date and time by which the documents must be received. This is normally within 21 days. If a submission is not received within the time limit, the Inspector will not normally take it into account in his consideration of the appeal. Submissions may be accepted via email with the agreement, in advance, of the Appeals Secretary.

It should be noted that the Inspector will consider the application in full, even when an appeal is just against a condition of approval, since the Minister is empowered to reverse or vary any part of the Planning Committee’s decision.

Attendance at appeal hearings

Only persons who have been granted interested party status and their professional witnesses may take part in the appeal hearings process. However members of the public can attend a hearing as observers. Persons wishing to do so should contact the Planning Appeals Secretariat to advise of their intention to attend to ensure that the venue can accommodate the attendees.