Planning appeals in Richmond upon Thames

Richmond upon Thames sits close to the national average. Roughly 31% of appealed refusals are overturned nationally, and Richmond upon Thames is in line with that. The merits of the individual case, and how well the grounds engage with the reasons for refusal, matter far more than the venue.

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 Richmond upon Thames 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

• Telford and Wrekin - 36.8% overturned
• Warwick - 36.7% overturned
• Tandridge - 36.7% overturned
• Kingston upon Thames - 36.7% overturned
• Amber Valley - 36.6% 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 Withdrawn, invalid and split decisions are excluded; councils need at least 40 decided appeals to be ranked.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.