What you need to do
This page explains how to make an appeal to the Scottish Ministers against a decision made by an authority under environmental legislation.
Appeals must be made in writing. There is no standard form to be completed to make an appeal. The relevant legislation may contain a list of the documents which you must submit as part of an appeal and may specify whether copies of these also need submitted to the authority whose decision you are seeking to appeal. You should therefore refer to the relevant legislation to make sure you comply with any specific requirements. In the absence any specific requirements in the relevant legislation, you should write to the Scottish Government's Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), setting out in full:
- the subject of the appeal;
- the legislation under which you are appealing;
- the authority against whose decision or other actions you are appealing; and
- the reasons for your appeal, including a statement of the matters you consider to be relevant, supported by copies of any documents or other evidence that you think should be taken into account.
Your appeal should be sent/delivered to:
Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals
4 The Courtyard
Callendar Business Park
Callendar Road
FALKIRK
FK1 1XR
Fax: 01324 696444
E-mail: DPEA@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
See Contact Us for information about our opening times and directions to our office.
Time Limits
There are usually statutory time limits for making an appeal to Scottish Ministers. These will be set by the relevant legislation and are normally explained in the authority's notice against which you are seeking to appeal. You can check with the authority if you are uncertain about the time limit.
In some cases DPEA has the power to accept a late appeal where there was a good reason for the appeal not being submitted in time. However, this does not apply to all types of appeal. To avoid any risk of your appeal being turned away due to being out of time or because it does not contain all the required information or because it has not been notified to the authority, we strongly advise that you get it to us in plenty of time before the end of the relevant appeal period and make sure you comply with all the appropriate requirements.