Just over 50 per cent of planning applications rejected by the district council have received government support during appeals, figures have shown.

In a recent St Albans district council report, statistics - providing a cumulative outlook over the 12 months to October 2016 - show that 52 per cent of the authority’s decisions were supported by the planning inspectorate.

When dismissing appeals to overturn council’s rejections of various schemes, inspectors gave considerable weight to Green Belt, listed buildings and conservation area considerations. Also, planning inspectors generally supported the council’s reasons for rejecting applications in regard to design and layout.

Those they overturned, however, included an appeal for a new home, with an inspector deciding the scheme’s impact on the ‘street scene’ and neighbours’ amenity was acceptable.

Statistics provided by the council show that while in October 2015, 63 per cent of its planning decisions were supported at appeal, that figure steadily decreased to 52 per cent over the following 12 months, despite the authority’s target of receiving the inspectorate’s backing for 66 per cent of appeals.

However, the local body’s planning department has seen more success in processing applications in time.

The number of schemes not decided within the council’s timeframe – set against government targets – had significantly dropped from 236 in October 2015 to 44 by October 31 this year.