Unauthorised Development

Process for dealing with unauthorised development

The purpose of this page is to advise you of the process that will deal with unauthorised development and breach of planning control.

It only deals with matters from a Town and Country Planning point of view - there may well be breaches of other legislation or regulations which will be dealt with by other departments of the Council or other Authorities.

What is Unauthorised Development?

Development that requires planning permission but which has taken place without planning permission. Development may consist of a change of use of land or buildings or the construction of a building, or any other operational development. Not all development requires planning permission, it may fall within the conditions of PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT.

In many cases unauthorised development is accidental or comes about through an understandable lack of knowledge of planning laws. You should seek advice from a Planning Officer about the need for planning permission and the likelihood of permission being given, giving full details about the development. If appropriate, or if you wish to seek permission against the advice given, you should make an application for planning permission to retain the development.

If you do not make an application to retain the development, or if you do and permission is refused, you should stop any unauthorised uses and remove the development, as soon as you are advised to do so. Otherwise an Enforcement Notice is likely to be served.

Enforcement Notices can cause problems for the owner of property. Apart from legal action by the Council it will usually cause serious problems if you want to sell the property. Enforcement notices are registered against the land and remain valid on the land even after they have been complied with. In the event of a sale of the property the enforcement notice is disclosed and can cause a serious delay. Enforcement notices are only ended by a subsequent planning permission, by a successful appeal or by a specific resolution of the Council’s Development Control Committee.

Complaints

If a complaint is made about your unauthorised development it will be investigated by an Enforcement Officer to confirm that the matter is an unauthorised development requiring permission and is open to the enforcement process under the Planning Acts.

The Enforcement Officers

The Enforcement Officers who work within the Development Control Section are responsible for dealing with breaches of planning control. Their telephone numbers, e-mail address and fax number are given at the foot of this page.

The Enforcement Officers aim to bring unauthorised development under control.

This is achieved by a variety of means -

• bringing the matter to the attention of the person responsible is often sufficient
• pointing out remedies such as altering the development to fall within ‘permitted development’
• negotiating changes to the development
• inviting appropriate planning applications, or applications for lawful development.

THE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WILL:

• investigate the alleged breaches of planning control
• visit the site. Planning and Enforcement Officers do have a right of entry onto your land, including your home and buildings, to investigate alleged breaches of planning control
• encourage resolution of the problems by advice, assistance about ‘permitted development’, relocation of businesses and to timetable the cessation of uses and the removal of developments
• identify and advise about lawful uses and, if appropriate, invite applications for lawful use
• advise about planning permission and, where appropriate, invite applications for planning permission to retain developments
• require the cessation of the unauthorised uses or developments
• bring unauthorised development under control
• where necessary issue notices under the relevant Planning Acts
• give advice about appeals against the issue of Enforcement Notices
• prosecute and give evidence at Criminal and Civil Courts and Public inquiries as necessary
• pursue the Council’s legitimate costs in all cases taken to Court.

Offences

Offences under the Planning Acts are punishable at the Magistrates Court and/or Crown Court, for example by doing the following:

• failure to comply with the requirements of an enforcement notice or other notice issued under Parts VII and VIII of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• unauthorised works to a listed building
• unauthorised works to a tree which is subject to a tree preservation order
• display of an advertisement without consent
• the removal of hedgerows without consent
• to give false or misleading information in response to statutory requisitions for information
• to give false or misleading information in an application for a certificate of lawful use or established development.

The maximum fine upon conviction in some of the above offences is £20,000, and if convicted at Crown Court can be an unlimited fine and/ or a term of imprisonment.

BREACHES OF PLANNING REGULATIONS ARE TREATED VERY SERIOUSLY AND THIS COUNCIL IS COMMITTED TO BRING UNAUTHORISED DEVELOPMENT UNDER CONTROL AND WILL PROSECUTE IN ALL APPROPRIATE CASES.