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 90,000 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, a family business with two directors, Niall and Louise Cook. The company was incorporated in 2004 in England and Wales under company number 05179367.

AppealBase was founded by Niall Cook, who has 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, AppealBase is completely free with no daily search limits, no concurrent user restrictions, and no subscription fees. We provide full-text search across all decision notices, advanced filtering options, map-based search, and API access for programmatic integration. AppealBase also includes many features to help you find the most relevant decisions quickly.