Planning appeals in Kensington and Chelsea

Kensington and Chelsea sits towards the top of the national table. Refusals here are overturned on appeal noticeably more often than in most of England, which suggests appealable refusals are being made and that a well-argued case has a genuine chance. It also makes it worth scrutinising a Kensington and Chelsea refusal carefully before accepting it.

An appeal only happens when an applicant chooses to challenge a refusal, so this is the overturn rate among refusals that were appealed, not the share of all Kensington and Chelsea refusals that were wrong. Read it as a measure of where appealing has paid off.

Route matters: how appeals get decided

Nationally, appeals decided after a hearing or inquiry succeed far more often than those decided on written representations. Bigger, better-argued cases tend to take the longer routes.

Procedure	Appeals decided	Overturned
Inquiry	1,013	63.7%
Hearing	2,338	46.1%
Written Representations	67,591	30.0%

Councils with similar overturn rates

• Maldon - 40.8% overturned
• Wychavon - 41.0% overturned
• Rochford - 41.1% overturned
• Hounslow - 40.3% overturned
• Nuneaton and Bedworth - 40.3% overturned

See the full national map and league table ->
All councils, A to Z ->

Method: allowed vs dismissed planning-merits appeal decisions published by the Planning Inspectorate, January 2021 to December 2025. Withdrawn, invalid and split decisions are excluded; councils need at least 40 decided appeals to be ranked. The confidence interval is a Wilson 95% interval. Figures relate to the local planning authority area, not the wider county where they differ.