Legislation, guidance and good practice
Legislation and national guidance
The Government’s view is that the integrity of the planning
system depends on the readiness of local planning authorities, such
as the County Council, to take effective enforcement action when it
is required and only after a thorough assessment of the relevant
factors in every case. The main national objectives of the
planning enforcement process are:
- to remedy undesirable effects of unauthorised development;
and
- to bring unauthorised activity under control to ensure that the
credibility of the planning system is not undermined.
Planning compliance and enforcement is a very complex area of
planning law. The legislative framework is principally
contained in:
Other relevant legislation relating to compliance and enforcement
is contained in:
National planning policy guidance on enforcement is set out in:
Paragraph 5 states that “in considering any enforcement action,
the decisive issue for the Local Planning Authority should be
whether the breach of control would unacceptably affect public
amenity or the existing use of land and buildings meriting
protection in the public interest”.
It goes on to advises that “enforcement action should always be
commensurate with the breach of planning control to which it
relates (for example, it is usually inappropriate to take formal
action against a trivial or technical breach of control which
causes no harm to amenity in the locality of the site).”
In 2002/3, the Government reviewed the planning enforcement
system. The main finding of the review was that in general,
the enforcement system was sound, but local planning authorities,
such as the County Council, needed to be able to take immediate
action against a serious breach of planning control. As a
result, the Temporary Stop Notice was introduced. A further
Government review of enforcement in November 2006 built on, and
confirmed, the previous review.
Other guidance and good practice
Further guidance and good practice is provided in:
- Enforcement
Concordat: Good Practice Guide for England and Wales,
Department of Trade and Industry, March 2003.
The central and local government Concordat on Good Enforcement (the
‘Enforcement Concordat’) is a voluntary, non-statutory code of
practice for dealing with businesses on enforcement matters.
The County Council has signed up to the Enforcement Concordat which
sets out the following principles:
- standards: setting clear standards
- openness: clear and open provision of information
- helpfulness: helping business by advising on and assisting with
compliance
- complaints about service: having a clear complaints
procedure
- proportionality: ensuring that enforcement action is
proportionate to the risks involved
- consistency: ensuring consistent enforcement practice.
The accompanying ‘Enforcement Concordat: Good Practice Guide for
England and Wales’ sets out a range of options drawn from good
practice which guide our work.
Supporting documents