Enforcement

We have power to take enforcement action against developments which take place without planning permission or without complying with a condition attached to any planning permission.

These activities are breaches of planning control and are unlawful.   However, those undertaking them do not commit a criminal offence unless they have been served with a notice requiring the activity to cease.

In many cases problems can be resolved through discussions with developers and agreement either to cease the activity or to regularise the situation by submitting a planning application.

If formal action is required the County Council has a range of powers.   These include:

-        Planning Contravention Notices (PCNs) – These require those carrying out developments to provide information about what is taking place and details of land ownership.   It is an offence not to respond to a PCN within the prescribed timescale.

-        Enforcement Notices (ENs) – These require unauthorised activities to cease and specify the measures (if any) which are required to rectify any damage caused.   There is a right of appeal against an enforcement notice which prevents the notice taking effect until the appeal is determined.

-        Stop Notices – These are of two types. The authority may use a temporary stop notice to bring an end to activities which are considered so damaging to the environment or to local amenities that an immediate cessation is required.   These remain in place for 28 days and enable time to draft an enforcement notice to rectify this situation.

Temporary stop notices are a new power recently introduced.   Stop notices may also be served with enforcement notices where it is considered that an activity cannot be allowed to continue pending the outcome of an appeal.   In the event of a successful appeal there is a risk that costs may be awarded against the authority arising from the use of a stop notice.   It is therefore not appropriate to use them in a situation where an activity has already taken place for a considerable period of time or its impact, although considered unacceptable, is not so severe as to require immediate cessation.

Breach of Condition Notices (BCNs) – These can be served to require compliance with planning conditions.  There is no right of appeal against them but they are more limited than enforcement notices in terms of the steps that can be required and their use against certain cases of non-compliance may not be appropriate.

Injunctions – In particularly serious cases or where other remedies have not succeeded in preventing unauthorised activities, an injunction from the High Courts may be sought.   Failure to comply with an injunction is a contempt of the Court and penalties are severe.

Injunctions may also be used against potential breaches of planning control.

Breach of Planning Control

A breach of planning control occurs when development is carried out without planning permission or failing to comply with any conditions or limitations on a planning permission.

Enforcements can be taken out against breaches for a period of up to 4 years against operational development, which includes building and mining, and up to 10 years against other breaches.

You can inform us of any breaches of planning control by letter or email via the contact details below.

We are hoping to have more detailed information relating to current and past Enforcement Cases available online shortly.  At present a full list of Enforcement Cases and notices served can be accessed via the link below.  You can also access copies of all Enforcement Notices and Breech of Condition Notices which have been served over the last 10 years.  These can be viewed by clicking on the relevant links to the PDF documents below.

Abbreviations :-

EN = Enforcement Notice

BCN = Breach of Condition Notice

OCCS = Open Cast Coal Site