Covid-19: Implications for Jersey Planning Appeals

The Law Society of Jersey has issued updated guidance over the weekend regarding the Court contingency plans amid COVID-19, stating that planning appeal hearings have now been suspended. New appeals will however continue to be processed without the final hearing dates being fixed at this stage and therefore it is important that should you wish to appeal a planning decision you meet the usual timeframes as set out below.

Should you wish to appeal against either:

1. a decision whereby you have been refused planning or building permission or disagree with a condition attached to a permission; or
2. a decision against a neighbour's application where planning permission has been granted and you have an interest in land within 50m of their site and submitted an objection,

you must fill in the "Appeal of a Decision Form" available from the planning section of the States of Jersey website and submit the form to the Judicial Greffe with the applicable fee, providing a brief outline of why you disagree with the decision and identifying all relevant issues. Any appeal must be submitted within 28 days of the date of the decision (which can be found on the decision notice).

Any site notices should continue to be displayed in the normal way for planning appeals. The preference will be for the notices to be posted direct to the site owner for them to display themselves (with all remaining documentation being posted to the agent). In the limited number of circumstances where this is not possible, an approach would need to be made to the Judicial Greffier for specific authorisation from the Tribunal for their agent to be able to attend on site for the sole purpose of displaying the site notice, ensuring they abide by social distancing guidance at all times.

Once the appeal is accepted you have 28 days to submit your statement of case giving your full argument for appealing including all supporting evidence and documentation. If the appeal isn’t accepted the Greffe will explain why, for example a late submission. All involved parties will then receive each other’s cases from the Greffe and will have 14 days to respond.

The suspension will mean that Planning Appeal hearings at this stage will be stalled (as with UK inspectors they will need to wait for normal business and travel to resume) and therefore the final decision of the Minister will ultimately be delayed. This will also mean the standard turnaround time for a decision of 10 weeks from date of appeal is likely to be significantly increased.