Privacy Statement

Who we are

AppealBase™ is an open-access tool that helps architects, planning consultants, developers, and others in the built environment sector search and read planning appeal decisions issued by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) in England.

AppealBase™ is independently developed and maintained. It is not affiliated with the Planning Inspectorate or the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

What data we publish

AppealBase™ republishes planning appeal decision notices and associated metadata originally published by the Planning Inspectorate through its Appeals Casework Portal.

We publish:

• • The full text of appeal decision notices (with personal data redacted)
• • The appeal reference number, decision date, and outcome
• • The appeal site address (with redactions in some cases)
• • The name of the deciding inspector
• • Associated metadata such as local planning authority, appeal type, and procedural route

Redaction of personal data

We do not publish personal data such as:

• • The names of appellants
• • Email addresses, phone numbers, or signatures
• • Medical or other sensitive (special category) information

Before publication, each decision notice is processed to detect and redact names and other personal identifiers. Automated methods are used to identify and redact personal names, with manual review or withholding from publication in some cases.

We retain site addresses where relevant for planning context. Inspector names are retained as they are public officials acting in their professional capacity.

If you believe a decision on AppealBase™ contains personal data that should not be published, please contact us.

Legal basis and licensing

The data published on AppealBase™ is drawn from information made available by the Planning Inspectorate and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. AppealBase™ complies with the terms of this licence, including attribution and redaction obligations.

We process and publish this information under the lawful basis of legitimate interests, with safeguards to minimise the use of personal data.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

User Accounts and Registration

AppealBase™ offers optional user accounts. You can use the site without creating an account, but registration provides access to additional features and personalization options.

When you create an account, we collect and store:

• • Your email address (normalized for storage and used for account communication)
• • An encrypted password (if you sign up with email/password)
• • Your authentication provider (email, Google, Apple, or Microsoft)
• • Timestamps for when you accepted our Terms of Use and Privacy Statement
• • Timestamp for when you confirmed your email address
• • Account creation and last update timestamps

How we use your account information:

• • To authenticate you when you sign in
• • To send you important account-related communications (e.g., email confirmation, password reset)
• • To provide personalized features and preferences
• • To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Use

Saved features (account data): If you use Saved features, we store:

• • Saved searches (optional name, your search query, and your saved filter settings)
• • Saved decisions (decision reference numbers) and any notes you choose to add
• If you use relative date ranges (e.g. “Last 7 days”), we store the date preset identifier as part of your saved filters and resolve it to actual dates when the search or alert runs.

Password security: We use industry-standard encryption (bcrypt) to store your password. We never store your password in plain text and cannot retrieve it. If you forget your password, you must use the password reset function.

OAuth providers: If you sign up using Google, Apple, or Microsoft, we receive basic profile information (email address) from the provider. We do not receive or store your password from these providers.

Account deletion: You can delete your account at any time through your account settings. When you delete your account, we will:

• • Soft delete your account (mark it as deleted)
• • Retain your account data for a limited period for legal and operational purposes
• • Remove your access to account-specific features immediately

Privacy of website users

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting any personal information you share with us.

• • No ads or third-party data sharing: We do not sell or share any information with advertisers or third parties.
• • Optional accounts: You can use AppealBase™ without creating an account. Registration is optional and provides access to additional features.

Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience on our website. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time using our Cookie Settings page.

Cookie Categories

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use our site. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your use of the website, including:

• • Pages you visit and how long you spend on them
• • How you found our website (search terms, referring websites)
• • Your device type, browser, and general location (country/region level)
• • Whether you are a new or returning visitor

This information is processed by Google Analytics and helps us improve our website and understand user needs. Google Analytics data is anonymised and does not identify individual users.

You can control Google Analytics tracking by:

• • Using our Cookie Settings to disable analytics cookies
• • Installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
• • Adjusting your browser settings to block cookies
• • Using private/incognito browsing modes

For more information about how Google uses data when you use our site, please see Google's Privacy Policy.

ChatGPT app and API access

If you connect AppealBase to ChatGPT (or use our API, for example via a Custom GPT or MCP), we use your account to authenticate your requests. We do not share your personal data with OpenAI or other third parties for these features.

Data we use: When you use the ChatGPT app or API, we use your account identifier (from sign-in or your API key) to enforce access and usage limits (for example, monthly call limits by account tier). We may record that a request was made (for example, to count usage) but we do not log the content of your searches or the decisions you view.

Purposes: To authenticate you, apply your account tier and usage limits, and provide search and retrieval results. We do not use this data for marketing or profiling.

Your control: You can disconnect the app from ChatGPT at any time in ChatGPT’s settings. If you use an API key, you can revoke it from your account settings. Deleting your account removes your data as described in “Account deletion” above.

Our API and MCP endpoints return only appeal data (references, decisions, metadata) and do not include internal identifiers, session IDs, or diagnostic data in responses.

Citation Checker

The Citation Checker is a feature available to registered users that allows you to extract and validate appeal references from documents. When you use this feature:

• • File uploads: You may upload documents (PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF) for processing. These files are processed server-side to extract text content. Files are not stored permanently — they are processed in memory and discarded after text extraction is complete.
• • URL processing: You may provide URLs to documents or web pages. We fetch the content from the URL, extract text, and process it. The fetched content is processed in memory and not stored permanently.
• • Text extraction: We extract plain text from your uploaded files or URLs using automated text extraction methods. The extracted text is used solely to identify appeal references and is not stored after processing.
• • Reference validation: Extracted appeal references are checked against our database to determine if they exist. This involves querying our appeals database, but no data from your documents is stored.
• • No data retention: Your uploaded files, URLs, and extracted text are processed temporarily and are not stored, logged, or retained after the citation check is complete.

Legal basis: We process your files and URLs under the lawful basis of legitimate interests, as this is a core feature of the service you have requested. Processing is limited to what is necessary to provide the citation checking functionality.

Your responsibility: You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to upload or process any files or URLs you provide. Do not upload or process content that contains sensitive personal data, confidential information, or content you do not have permission to process.

Email Alerts

Email alerts are managed through Saved searches. If you enable email alerts for a saved search, we collect and store:

• • Your email address (normalized for storage)
• • Your saved search query and saved filter settings (including any relative date preset, if used)
• • Your marketing consent preference (optional)
• • Confirmation tokens and alert status
• • Timestamps for when the alert was created, confirmed, and last used

How email alerts work:

• • Depending on your account tier, only one saved search can have email alerts enabled at a time
• • You must confirm your email address before alerts become active
• • We send daily digest emails with new decisions matching your search
• • You can unsubscribe, replace, or cancel your alert at any time
• • We use your email address to send you the requested alerts
• • If you consent to marketing emails, we may also send you weekly appeal statistics, new feature alerts, and other occasional updates

Legal basis: We process your email address and search preferences under the lawful basis of consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing from your alert.

Data retention: We retain your email alert data until you unsubscribe or request deletion. Inactive alerts are automatically cleaned up after extended periods of inactivity.

Information you may voluntarily provide

If you contact us by email (e.g. to request a redaction or provide feedback), we will only use your contact details to respond to your message and take any necessary action. We do not use this information for marketing and do not store it beyond what is necessary to handle your request.

We do not collect or store IP addresses or browser metadata for general visitors to the site. The only server logs retained are for essential technical diagnostics and basic rate-limiting to protect against abuse.

Contact us

If you have any concerns about the content published on AppealBase™ — or believe any personal data has been included in error — please contact:

We will respond promptly and take appropriate action in line with data protection regulations.