Electronic Attachments

Submitting Plans

If you intend to attach plans to the forms, or send them in separately by e-mail, please ensure you indicate the paper size that the plan should be printed on.  This can be done by adding the paper size to the file name used to identify the plan i.e. proposedplan@A4. This will help us to ensure plans are printed to the correct scale.

To help us make sure that the information in your electronic documents can be effectively handled within the Planning Casework Service, wherever possible please prepare the documents and submissions you wish to attach in the following way.

Please note that this advice will equally apply to online appeal forms and questionnaires, and their attachments, as to documents sent via email.

Include details to help us match your document to the right case

Please make sure that the following details are included on any electronic documents and covering e-mail that is sent to us.

• the appeal reference (once it is known),
• the name of the appellant, and your name (if different),
• the site address, and
• the type of document (eg Statement of case, Proof of evidence) you are sending.

If the document is being submitted as part of the documents supporting an appeal form, please also include the appeal form Section/item number that the attachment relates to.

Use one of the following acceptable file formats

The Planning Inspectorate accepts files in the following formats:

Most CAD systems provide a facility to convert output into PDF format, and we recommend that you use this to send us these documents.

We do not accept documents in Microsoft Excel format (.xls).  These should be converted/imported into a Word document and sent in Word format.

Please note that DOCX, DWG, DGN, DXF, HTML and Zip files will not be accepted.

Documents may be published on the Internet via the Planning Portal.  Those submitted as non-pdf files will be converted to Adobe Acrobat format before being published.

Microsoft Office 2007

If you are using Microsoft Office 2007, please ensure any word documents you attach to the forms are in the standard .doc format.  Documents will be automatically saved as .docx files unless you change the file format before saving.  At present the .docx format is not compatible with the online forms. To ensure documents are saved in the standard .doc format: Select 'File' then 'Save as'.  Select the option to save as 'Word Doc 97-2003', and this will convert the document to a .doc file.

Make it easy for users to access information in your files

Please do not send documents that are protected in any way (including password protected or where printing has been disabled), have redlined markings, are macro enabled, formatted as read-only or have automated links to other documents.

We prefer documents to be submitted in PDF, but you must remove all "Document Security" used to encrypt the document before sending it to us.  

If you are sending us documents you have scanned yourselves, please ensure that these documents are legible and you can see the whole of each page.

Use acceptable File Sizes

If you are submitting documents to us online, we will not accept any that are over 5MB, so please try to ensure that each attachment is kept as small as possible.

To avoid larger files:

• do not scan more than one document into a single file;
• send each picture, photograph, map or drawing as a separate file;
• if a document has appendices, please scan each as a separate document together with any covering sheet.  This will help staff to ensure the document is assembled in the correct order for the Inspector;
• if a document is large, break it down into sensible parts, and name them accordingly.

- For Access Restriction appeals: access@pins.gsi.gov.uk

- For all other appeal types: appeals@pins.gsi.gov.uk or the e-mail address at the top of any letter we have sent you.

Please note:

1. The covering e-mail for your attachments MUST quote the appeal reference if you know what it is.  If you don't know, please quote the appellant's name and/or the site address.
2. Your own e-mail system may prevent you sending e-mails over a certain size.  Please ensure that what you intend to send us will be acceptable to your service provider.
3. Our e-mail system will accept documents up to 10MB.  If you have any difficulties, please contact our Customer Services Team on 0117 372 6372.

Use acceptable Fonts

The Planning Inspectorate’s preferred font is Verdana.

Our systems do not support some older fonts, so if you send us information that we are unable to read, we will need to contact you and ask you to reformat and resubmit it.

Using graphics and images

Please ensure that all images are embedded in your document.  Think carefully about the type of graphics you use, because this will affect the quality and size of your document.  Bitmap images, like those produced when a photograph is scanned, require significant storage space and must be used with care.

Attachments that contain scanned colour images result in large file sizes. To keep the file size small please try to avoid sending attachments scanned in colour. Black and white images in PDF format are best for us.

If you do need to send colour images, such as photos,  please create separate files for  each photograph, drawing, map, plan or graph.  They should be appropriately labelled as appendices, and cross-referenced as appropriate from within the main document.

Avoid links to websites

Please do not use links to websites within your documents.  Links to online Development plans will be accepted provided you clearly state the plan name, the version and date and the parts of the plan you wish to draw attention to.

If you do use such links, then

a) be aware that you may be asked for a printed version of that information if those to whom it is sent do not have access to the internet, and

b) the links should be in a form that can be copy typed into an internet browser.  By this we mean that the hyperlink should be given in full rather than as a link name.

eg http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/professionals/en/1113322774660.html rather than Right of appeal

Avoid infringing copyright

Please bear in mind that if you are scanning in material to send to us, this must be done with the owner's permission and with any copyright licence fee paid. Also bear in mind that you may only scan an Ordnance Survey map if you:

• have an annual licence to copy (£45 per site) to do so, or
• have purchased a bulk copy arrangement, or
• are using an Local Authority-supplied map under the 'map return scheme' (for which a fee is normally payable at the Local Authority's discretion), or
• have purchased the site-specific map from the Planning Portal for the purposes of attaching to a planning application, appeal or representation

More information on Ordnance Survey map licensing is available on their website.

POSTAL SUBMISSIONS

Should you wish to continue to deal with the Inspectorate about the case by paper, please check our Guidelines for doing so. The Planning Inspectorate will scan all the paper documents that it receives into its computer system.