Our Approach To Planning Enforcement

Planning breaches occur where works or activities are undertaken without planning permission, or where the works or activities are not being carried out in accordance with a permission that is in place.  Unauthorised or uncontrolled development can have serious adverse impacts on neighbours and the local environment.

Our planning enforcement team investigates and tackles suspected breaches of planning control.

The council's Local Enforcement Plan explains our approach to planning enforcement in detail.

We aim to act proportionately, consistently, and in accordance with government guidance. Where a breach of planning control is identified, it won’t necessarily result in enforcement action being taken. We need to consider the level of planning harm. Not all breaches cause sufficient harm to justify further action, and formal action is discretionary on the part of the council.

We categorise reports of planning breaches into three priority categories. Most cases will be assigned ‘priority 3’. Only the most serious breaches are classed as priority 1 or 2, for example major works to listed buildings or protected trees, or the actual or imminent new residential occupation of agricultural land.