I am writing to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please provide a breakdown of costs incurred by the Council in relation to Planning Ap-peals for each financial year from 2010/11 to the current date in 2025.
Specifically, I request the data be provided in a table format containing the following two categories:
1. The total amount spent by the Council on legal fees, external consultants, and ad-ministrative costs for defending planning appeals.
2. The total number of planning appeals defended by the Council (if an appeal cross-es a financial year please include it in the same year as the costs were paid).
3. The total amount paid out to appellants (third parties) following a decision by the Planning Inspectorate that the Council acted "unreasonably" (Awards of Costs).
4. The total number of instances where costs were paid out to appellants (third par-ties) following a decision by the Planning Inspectorate that the Council acted "un-reasonably" (Awards of Costs).
Please present the data in the following format as an excel sheet:
Financial year Own legal/appeal costs (£) Number of planning appeals de-fended Costs paid due to "Unreasonable" decision (£) Number of instances were costs were paid for “Unreasonable” decision
2010/2011
2011/2012
...
2025/26 (to date)
If specific years are not available, please provide data for as many years as are held.