Frequently Asked Questions

AppealBase™ is a free, open-access web application for searching the full text of planning appeal decision notices issued by the Planning Inspectorate in England since 1 January 2020. With more than 100,000 decisions available, it helps architects, planning consultants, and other built environment professionals access real inspector reasoning to inform better planning applications and reduce the risk of refusal.

AppealBase is provided and operated by Re-Focus Associates Ltd. The company is incorporated in England and Wales under company number 05179367.

AppealBase was created by Niall Cook, with a background in creative technology, data and digital services, and machine learning/AI. The service combines that expertise with input from planning and property professionals who use AppealBase in practice. He also has direct experience of the planning application and appeal process as a landowner and property developer.

No. AppealBase is a live, production service that is already in use by planning and property professionals. We release improvements regularly, but the platform itself is stable, supported and designed for day-to-day use, not as a short-term experiment.

AppealBase is free to use, and it's our intention to keep it that way. Our mission is to democratise access to planning appeal data for everyone, and making it free is the only way to achieve that.

We may introduce new, value-added features as part of paid plans in future, but the core search function will always be free.

We work closely with users across planning, development and housing to shape the roadmap and test new features. Feedback from planning professionals, consultants and other practitioners directly influences how we structure the data, filters and search tools in AppealBase.

AppealBase offers several advantages over other planning appeal search tools. Unlike many alternatives, core search is free with no subscription fees. We provide full-text search across decision notices, advanced filtering, map-based search, saved searches, email alerts, and an official ChatGPT app plus Claude connector. Partner organisations can also request REST API access. See our comparison page for a feature-by-feature overview.

Yes. If you create an account, you can save searches and favourite decisions in the Saved page. You can also add a note to saved decisions to remind yourself why you saved them.

Email alerts are managed through Saved searches. Save a search and enable daily email alerts for it. The number of saved searches and active email alerts you can have depends on your account tier — for example, AppealBase Free includes up to five saved searches and one active email alert. View your limits on the Account settings page.

Yes. In ChatGPT, use our official AppealBase app in the ChatGPT Apps directory. In Claude, connect AppealBase as an MCP connector. Both ask you to log in to your AppealBase account when you connect. See ChatGPT & Claude for setup instructions.