Local Enforcement Plan 2024

2.1. Planning enforcement is a reactive service whereby requests are made for potential breaches of control to be investigated. These requests can come from the public, elected members, stakeholders or council employees.

General process

2.2. Once a case is received it will be logged and allocated to an officer to investigate. Initially the enforcement process involves an assessment as to whether there is a breach of planning control or not.

2.3. In certain cases, the investigation may require a site visit to establish whether a breach of planning control has taken place. There may also be some occasions where a series of visits are required to be able to establish if there is a breach in planning control.

2.4. Where there is no breach of planning control, the investigation will be closed, the relevant parties informed, and no further action taken. Where a matter has been previously investigated and no breach of control was found, there will be no reinvestigation of the case unless the complainant is able to provide substantive evidence of the alleged breach.

2.5. If a breach of planning control has occurred, then a more detailed assessment of the breach and its associated impacts will often be required.

2.6. The council may also need to liaise with other council departments or outside bodies to be able to form a view on the impacts of a breach of planning control.

2.7. All of the information and evidence is then considered and a decision as to whether it is expedient to take enforcement action against any breach of planning control or not, is then taken.

Figure 1: main steps in an enforcement investigation

Step 1 - Initial assessment including determining if there is a breach and if so, case priority.

Step 2 - Investigation including site visit(s).

Step 3 - Decision on enforcement.