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Business Domain Overview
Purpose
This document provides a concise overview of the principal PEDW planning-domain concepts used throughout the portal.
It is intended for developers and architects who may be unfamiliar with UK and Welsh planning terminology.
It explains business terminology, statutory context, and PEDW portal responsibilities.
It does not define software architecture.
The architecture documents build upon these business concepts.
PEDW Portal Business Purpose
PEDW Portal currently supports two broad business capabilities.
1. Digital Appeal Services
The portal supports digital services for certain statutory planning appeal processes.
Current Scope
- Section 78 (
S78) appeal submission is implemented as the current MVP digital appeal flow.
Long-Term Direction
The portal may be extended to support additional statutory planning appeal processes where PEDW chooses to offer digital services.
These services may include:
- appeal submission
- draft management
- supporting evidence upload
- validation
- progress tracking
The exact capabilities available depend upon the statutory appeal process being supported.
Business Meaning
These are statutory appeals made against decisions of a Local Planning Authority.
For supported appeal processes, the portal provides structured digital services allowing an appellant to interact with the PEDW-administered appeal process.
Current Scope
- Section 78 (
S78) appeal submission is implemented as the current MVP digital appeal flow.
Long-Term Direction
- the portal may be extended to support additional statutory planning appeal processes where PEDW chooses to offer digital submission support
Business Meaning
These are appeals made against decisions of a Local Planning Authority.
In this capability, the portal is not just publishing information.
It is providing a structured digital route through which an appellant can submit an appeal into the PEDW-administered process.
2. Statutory Public Information & Public Participation
The portal also fulfils public-facing statutory information and participation responsibilities by consuming CRM-managed case information and exposing it through the portal.
This includes:
- publishing case information
- publishing documents
- displaying case progress
- supporting public participation where legislation requires
- exposing hearings, events, inquiries, or enquiries where applicable
This capability applies across multiple statutory case types, not only digitally-submitted appeals.
Representative examples include:
- Planning Appeals
- Developments of National Significance (
DNS) - Significant Infrastructure Projects (
SIP) - Harbour Revision Orders
- Transport Act cases
- Electricity Act cases
Business Responsibility Split
- CRM is the operational system of record used by PEDW to administer statutory planning casework.
The portal consumes information from CRM and provides the public-facing statutory digital service, including case information, documents, participation opportunities and digital appeal services where supported.
- the portal provides the public-facing statutory digital information service
This means the portal often presents case information, progress, documents, and participation routes for statutory processes that are administered in CRM even where the portal is not the origin of the case submission.
Business Terminology Glossary
Planning Appeal
A planning appeal is a statutory challenge to a planning decision, usually a decision of a Local Planning Authority.
In portal terms, an appeal may be:
- digitally submitted through the portal, where that process is supported
- or displayed/publicly surfaced as part of PEDW's statutory case-information responsibilities
Planning Application
A planning application is the original application made to a Local Planning Authority for planning permission or related consent.
It is not the same as an appeal.
An appeal may arise later if the applicant disputes the authority's decision or non-determination.
Planning Case
A planning case is the broader statutory case record being administered.
Depending on case type, a case may represent:
- an appeal
- an application process such as DNS
- another statutory planning or infrastructure process
The portal presents case information across multiple such case families.
Statutory Case Type
Every planning case belongs to a statutory case type defined by planning legislation.
Examples include:
- Planning Appeals
- Developments of National Significance (DNS)
- Significant Infrastructure Projects (SIP)
- Harbour Revision Orders
- Transport Act cases
- Electricity Act cases
Different statutory case types may expose different capabilities through the portal depending on legislative requirements.
Examples include:
- digital appeal services
- public information
- published documents
- representations
- hearings and events
- case progress
Not every statutory case type supports every portal capability.
Appellant
The appellant is the party making an appeal against a Local Planning Authority decision.
In many appeal flows, the appellant is the person or organisation submitting the appeal, either directly or through an agent.
Applicant
The applicant is the party who made the original planning application.
The applicant and appellant are sometimes the same party, but they are not conceptually identical terms.
- applicant -> original application process
- appellant -> subsequent appeal process
Representation
A representation is a formal comment, statement, or submission made by a participant in response to a planning case where public participation is allowed or required.
Representations are part of statutory participation and public-facing case handling, not just appeal submission.
Local Planning Authority (LPA)
The Local Planning Authority is the authority that made the original planning decision or is otherwise responsible at local level for the planning matter.
The portal uses LPA widely because many appeals and planning processes are defined in relation to LPA decisions or LPA participation.
DNS
DNS means Developments of National Significance.
These are nationally significant planning applications handled under a distinct statutory route.
The portal supports public-facing statutory information and participation for DNS cases.
SIP
SIP means Significant Infrastructure Projects.
These are large infrastructure-related statutory case types administered through PEDW/CRM and surfaced through the portal where relevant.
CRM
CRM refers to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 / Dataverse system that acts as the operational system of record for PEDW case administration.
In portal terms, CRM typically owns:
- case records
- statutory status/progress information
- case relationships
- published document metadata
- participation-related data
PEDW
PEDW means Planning and Environment Decisions Wales.
PEDW administers statutory planning and related casework in Wales.
The portal is the public-facing digital service layer supporting PEDW responsibilities.
Relationship Between Concepts
The following simplified relationships are useful for understanding the portal:
Planning Application
│
▼
Local Planning Authority decision
│
▼
Possible Planning Appeal
│
▼
PEDW statutory case administration (CRM)
│
▼
Portal
├── Digital appeal services (where supported)
├── Public case information
├── Published documents
├── Case progress
├── Public participation
└── Hearings / events where applicable
Not all portal cases begin as digital appeals.
Some begin as other statutory planning or infrastructure case types that PEDW administers and the portal then publishes and supports publicly.
Guiding Principle
The portal does not attempt to make every statutory planning process behave identically.
Planning legislation defines different statutory processes with different participation models, submission requirements, documentation requirements and publication obligations.
The portal therefore provides a common digital platform while allowing individual statutory case types to expose only the capabilities required by their legislation.
Shared platform services maximise reuse without attempting to normalise legislative differences.
Relationship to Architecture
This document explains the business domain and terminology only.
It does not define:
- architectural classification
- implementation workstreams
- technical boundaries
- service or route ownership
Those are defined in the architecture and programme documents.
This document exists so future architectural and implementation work uses correct planning-domain terminology and does not assume that all portal capabilities are only about appeals.