Planning Enforcement Charter 2024-2026

The Planning Enforcement Service Standards

A service standard is a public commitment to a measurable level of performance that stakeholders can expect under normal circumstances.

The following service standards are consistent with the priorities and objectives of the service. Performance in relation to the service standards will be monitored and reviewed over the life of the Charter which expires in April 2024.

Service Standards

Performance in relation to the service standards will be monitored and reviewed over the life of the Charter which expires in April 2024.

Service Standard	Aim	Target Timescale	Additional Information
Service Standard 1	Confirm all necessary details received to log and allocate case to an officer.	Within 5 working days of receipt of the complaint.	Review of complaint form with regards to alleged breach of planning legislation, confirmation that the case has been logged will be issued via email. The case will also be given a priority rating by a Senior Officer at this point.
Service Standard 2	Site visit	If necessary, within 20 working days of confirmation.	The site will be visited if determined necessary to progress the investigation.
Service Standard 3	To prioritise and visit high priority cases and issue correspondence.	Site visited same day or next day of complaint.	The site will be visited as a matter of urgency in instances where a high priority potential breach is identified.
Service Standard 4	To provide the complainant with a Planning Impact Report. High and Medium Priority Cases - A report will be provided within 2 months from the date at which a case is assigned priority. Low priority Cases - A report will be provided within 6 months of the case being assigned priority.	Within 2 to 6 months of case being logged.	The need for enforcement action may result in the removal or odification of a development prior to the service of a notice. Similarly, it may be possible to modify the development so that planning permission is not required or serve a S.33A Notice requiring an application to be submitted.
Service Standard 5	To update complainants in High and Medium Priority Cases	Within 8 months of the date of the case being logged

Service Standard 1

This standard ensures that once the complaint form is received electronically (in the majority of cases) or by post, the case is logged quickly and complainants are provided confirmation that sufficient information has been received to open the investigation; or, to detail what additional evidence we require to open the case. In instances where additional information is required, complainants will be given 20 working days to provide this, or the case will be closed.

Once sufficient information has been received to confirm the logging of a new case, we will aim to confirm this in writing within 5 working days of the additional information being provided.

Service Standard 2

While we require evidence to be submitted in the majority of cases, a site visit will be arranged where considered necessary to progress matters. When this is required, we will aim to conduct a site visit within 20 working days from the point at which a case is has been allocated to an officer.

If a site visit is not considered necessary due to the evidence submitted, the officer will process the case based on the information submitted.

Service Standard 3

This requires visits to High Priority cases as a matter of urgency, hence a priority visit is necessary and we will aim to conduct this on a same or next day basis.

Service Standard 4 (Planning Impact Reports)

The Council has statutory powers to investigate breaches of planning control and to take formal action where a satisfactory outcome cannot be achieved by negotiations. Enforcement, however, is a discretionary power. That means, even where there is a breach of planning control, the Council has to consider if it is in the public interest to take enforcement action. The Council is not required to take any particular action on a specific breach of planning control if it determines it is not necessary or in the public interest to do so.

Building on the success of Planning Impact Reports over the life of the last two charters, which provide customers with clarity regarding what action, if any, is considered necessary, these have been retained for this charter and are detailed below. We aim to issue a Planning Impact Report within 2 to 6 months depending on the priority of the case.

PIR (CAT A): Enforcement Action Necessary
The development causes serious planning harm which requires formal action to be taken.
PIR (CAT B): Submission of an application is required
The development may be acceptable subject to mitigating conditions. Therefore a retrospective planning application will be required.
PIR (CAT C): Minor technical breach of planning control
Planning permission is technically required, but it is not in the public interest to pursue the matter further.
PIR (CAT D): No breach of planning control
The alleged breach does not require planning permission and therefore the case will be closed.
PIR (CAT E): Interim Response
There will be occasions when it proves impossible or impractical to conclude upon either of the four categories above, most typically because there is insufficient information to reach a conclusion. In these circumstances the Planning Impact Report will detail the reason for the delay and will indicate the likely timescale for a response.

Challenging the Outcome of a PIR

There is no formal right of appeal against the assessment provided within the PIR; therefore in the majority of cases the decision will be final. An exception to this rule will be where an allegation of factual inaccuracy of any point contained within the PIR assessment would provide reasonable grounds for reconsideration of the outcome, although any claim to this effect would have to be substantiated through the submission of evidence to the contradict the initial finding.

Service Standard 5

We aim to provide a further update within 8 months of the date of confirmation of the investigation with CAT A, CAT B and CAT E cases.

Where the Council has committed to take further action, there is a need to ensure that targets are put in place to ensure that the commitment is achieved. Therefore, where a CAT A commitment has been given take enforcement action, a CAT B to require a planning application, or in some cases a CAT E, there is a new target in this Charter to update the complainant within 8 months of the date of confirmation of the case.

This should provide sufficient time to enable for the appropriate actions to be taken and update the complainant accordingly or to advise why there has been a delay and provide a date when the action will be taken.