Appeals against enforcement
Last updated: 09/04/2013
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If the Council considers that your development involves a breach
of planning, it can take enforcement action. There will
usually be opportunity to discuss the matter and you may be asked
to make changes to make the breach more acceptable or remove it
altogether.
Where the breach is causing severe harm the Council
will issue an enforcement notice setting out the measures
needed to remedy the breach, and the date by which these must be
implemented. You may be required to cease your activities, or
demolish all or part of the building. If you have not complied with
a condition imposed on the grant of a planning permission, the
council may issue a breach of condition notice requiring you to
carry out work to observe the terms of the condition.
There is a right of appeal to the Secretary of State against an
enforcement notice. If an appeal is dismissed and the notice
becomes effective, it is an offence not to comply with it, and the
Council may decide to prosecute you. There is no right of appeal
against a breach of condition notice and you will risk prosecution
if you do not comply with it.
Complaining about enforcement investigations
If you wish to complain about how the Council has handled a
planning enforcement matter, please contact the case officer’s line
manager in the first instance.
In some cases, you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman
(LGO) about how a local planning authority handled a planning
enforcement investigation. The LGO cannot investigate a complaint
just because you do not agree with the decision and the LGO has no
power to alter the decision, even if the local authority
administration has not been entirely correct.