Planning Enforcement

The Council aims to provide both a proactive and reactive planning enforcement service. However, in most circumstances, members of the public will be the first to witness breaches of planning control when they occur and we rely on you to report those issues to us for further investigation. You can report an alleged breach of planning control to us by email, phone or post; the planning enforcement customer charter sets out the contact details.

When issues are reported to us, we will aim to investigate on site within 10 working days and advise the complainant of our findings and intended actions within 20 working days from receiving the complaint. Further detail of our process can be found in the planning enforcement customer charter.

We try to resolve breaches of planning control by asking those responsible to put matters right. For example, if you have gone ahead with work without permission we may ask you to apply for planning permission retrospectively. Where this fails or is not appropriate, we will move to formal enforcement action, including prosecution.

We take our enforcement responsibility seriously; the charter also sets out how we operate our planning enforcement service in a fair, timely, consistent and open manner.

A Photograph Protocol for officers taking and using photographs on private land is now available.

Details of both our planning enforcement customer charter and photograph protocol for officers can be found in the read more section of this page.

Below are examples of concerns which are not covered by planning legislation, but can be dealt with by other departments of the Council; the contact details are set out for your convenience.