When will formal action occur?

Planning legislation is clear that an enforcement notice can be issued where:

In taking formal planning enforcement action the council will be prepared to use whichever available enforcement power or combination of powers that are appropriate to deal effectively with an identified breach of planning control. 

In considering whether it is expedient to take planning enforcement action the decisive issue for the council will be whether the breach of planning control causes planning harm. Other considerations are the likelihood of getting planning permission, public interest, proportionality and obligations under the Human Rights and Equality Act. Accordingly, formal planning enforcement action will not be instigated solely to regularise breaches in planning control or seek a planning fee.

There are also time limits as to when enforcement action can be taken. For operational development or use as a single dwelling house, action must be instigated within four years. In other cases action must be taken within 10 years, except for works to a listed building which have no time limit, and works to trees which have different timescales.

Examples of planning harm:

• Unacceptable design
• Severe harm to highway safety
• Loss of residential amenity 
• Detrimental impact on general amenity 
• Harm to heritage assets
• Harm to designated landscape such as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Conservation Area (CA), World Heritage Site (WHS), etc

The following are NOT examples of harm:

• Competition caused to another business
• Loss of an individual’s view or trespass onto their land or damage to property
• Ownership disputes
• Loss of value to a property
• Rights to light

It may be possible to address issues such as these by way of civil action, although this is a matter for the individual to pursue and is not an area where we would be involved.