Through his 3-year tenure, Paul has led the Inspectorate through a period of change – introducing a new structure to embed a service culture, growing the organisation to meet the demands of the planning system and accelerating performance to decide planning appeals faster whilst maintaining quality.

To continue this progress, Graham Stallwood has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive ahead of open recruitment in 2026. Graham has been the Chief Operating Officer at the Inspectorate since 2019 and brings a wealth of experience to the role.

Leading the Planning Inspectorate has been a great privilege. During my time here, I’m proud that we’ve significantly reduced appeal waiting times, modernised digital services and maintained high quality decision-making. None of this would have been

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