Appeal or ask for a review of a planning decision

You can appeal or ask for a review if you disagree with our decision on your application, including:

• planning permission (both planning permission in principle and full planning permission)
• listed building consent
• conservation area consent
• advertisement consent (such as for signs and billboards)
• hazardous substances consent
• tree works consent
• certificate of lawful use or development (CLUD)
• prior approval or prior notification applications
• modification or discharge of planning obligations (Section 75 agreements).

You can also appeal conditions attached to an application.

Your decision notice will state which of these options is correct for your situation:

• appealing to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA)
• asking the council’s Local Review Body (LRB) for a review.

You can also ask for a review if it’s been more than 2 months since you submitted an application and you’ve not received our decision. This is known as a ‘review under non-determination’.

Appeal

Appeal if either of these describes your situation:

• the decision on your planning application was made by Full Council or the Planning and Climate Change Policy Board (learn more about council boards) – find this information on your decision notice
• you applied for a type of planning consent other than planning permission.

If it’s competent and valid, your appeal will go to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA). It will then be assigned to a reporter to consider. The reporter may ask you to provide more information.

Review

Ask for a review if either of these describes your situation:

• the decision on your planning application was made by the council’s planning officers – find this information on your decision notice
• it’s been more than 2 months since you applied for planning permission and you’ve not received a decision.

Your request for a review will go to the Local Review Body. This group is made up of 5 Renfrewshire councillors, who will review your case and make the final decision at one of their public meetings.

The only people who can appeal or ask for a review of our decision on your planning application are:

• yourself (the applicant)
• an agent (such as a planning consultant, architect, or the contractor who did the work) who submitted the application on your behalf.

You cannot appeal or ask for a review of the decision on someone else’s planning application. This is known as ‘no third-party right of appeal’.

If you disagree with our decision on your planning application

You must appeal or ask for a review within 3 months of the date on your decision notice.

If this 3-month window has passed, then our original decision is final.

If you’ve not received our decision

You can ask for a review if it’s been more than 2 months since you applied for planning permission and you’ve not received a decision. Once those first 2 months of waiting for a decision are over, you then have 3 months to ask for a review.

If this 3-month window has passed, then you’ll need to start over and apply for planning permission again.

Appeal or ask for a review on the ePlanning Scotland website. You’ll need to log in or create an account to start your application.

Appeal or ask for a review (ePlanning Scotland website)

If you appealed to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA), contact them directly if you have any follow-up questions.

If you asked the council’s Local Review Body (LRB) for a review, contact us if you have any follow-up questions:

We’ll aim to respond to you within 14 days. If our response will take longer than 14 days, we’ll let you know how long you can expect to wait and will keep you updated on your application’s progress.

If you’d like to contact us by phone, our duty planner is available Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 12:30pm.