The applicant for planning permission has a right of appeal to the Planning Appeals Commission (the "PAC") against a refusal of planning permission or against the conditions imposed on a planning permission. The appeal should be made within 6 months (or such longer period as the PAC may allow) of the decision to refuse planning permission or to grant planning permission subject to conditions. Failure by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland to make any determination within 2 months of validation also allows the applicant to appeal to the PAC against this non-determination. This appeal should be brought within 6 months of the expiry of the 2 month period. The date of validation is not necessarily the date on which an application is lodged with Planning Service and is the date when Planning Service acknowledges that it is a correctly made application. This in practice will be a few days after the date it is lodged.
It should be noted that in Northern Ireland it is only the disappointed applicant for planning permission who has the right to appeal. There are not yet any third party appeal rights although the introduction of such rights has been considered by Planning Service.