Agenda item

To consider the draft Planning Enforcement Plan and recommend it to the Executive Committee for approval for public consultation.

65.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Development Services, circulated at Pages No. 21-46, which proposed the introduction of a Planning Enforcement Plan.  Members were asked to consider the draft Plan and recommend it to the Executive Committee for approval for public consultation.

65.2           The Head of Development Services advised that the National Planning Policy Framework stated that local planning authorities should consider publishing a local enforcement plan setting out how they would monitor the implementation of planning permissions, investigate alleged cases of unauthorised development and take action where it was appropriate to do so.  A Planning Enforcement Plan had been drafted, setting out the Council’s proposed approach to delivering the service.  It was a customer facing document providing clear and succinct ‘Plain English’ information about planning enforcement and setting out the level of service that customers could expect to receive. 

65.3           The Senior Planning and Enforcement Officer explained that he had been brought into the role to undertake a number of initiatives, starting with a review of the Council’s Planning Enforcement service and, over the last few months, that work had focused on the development of the draft Planning Enforcement Plan. This area of work was very contentious and difficult, not just for Officers but also for Members, and the review had identified a number of areas for improvement, set out at Paragraph 1.3 of the report, including the need for a structured framework within which all decisions were made; the need to focus on monitoring of conditions and, where planning permission had been given, ensuring that planning permission was being implemented correctly; making better use of IT in order to assist with record keeping e.g. an electronic planning register had been introduced to replace the old paper one; adopting available legislation and looking at opportunities around enforcement, including direct action for Planning Officers to resolve breaches; and, raising the profile of the service amongst Officers, Members and the public to communicate the message that unauthorised development would be addressed in order to act as a deterrent.  The Planning Enforcement Plan addressed the need for a more formal structure for enforcement and would be used by Officers as a manual on how to approach enforcement in order to embed this into day-to-day working.  He went on to advise that the Planning Enforcement Plan was intended to be informative so that the public could find out what they could and could not do and how to appeal decisions etc.; this was covered in Sections 1-3 and 8-9 of the plan.  Sections 4-6 focused on how to report a suspected breach and the Council’s priorities for action, including unauthorised breaches of conditions.  The plan also set out, at Sections 5, 7 and 12, the customer service standards which people could expect from the Council, whether they were the subject of the breach or the person reporting it.  The powers available to the Council, and its commitment to action, were included in Section 10 of the plan and Section 11 gave details of where people could find out more information about the progress of cases and how to comment on the operation of the service.  Following consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, it was intended to take the draft Planning Enforcement Plan to the Executive Committee with a view to approving it for a six week consultation period.  During that time, Officers would consult with Parish Councils and would publicise the plan in the local press; any comments received would be considered and the plan would be amended as appropriate.  The final draft of the plan would then be reported back to the Executive Committee for adoption.

65.4           During the discussion which ensued, a Member drew attention to Page No. 45 which set out the intention to bring a report to the Planning Committee on a monthly basis identifying those matters where formal enforcement action had been taken, with an update on progress, as well as outlining general performance.  He welcomed the introduction of this report as there was currently a lack of information once breaches had initially been reported which wasted a lot of time as interested parties were unaware of what was being done.  Another Member felt that the plan was very timely as he found a lot of aspects of planning enforcement to be unsatisfactory.  He raised concern that the plan made no reference to the role of Members or how enquiries from Members were handled. He indicated that he had submitted a complaint in October 2017 but had not been given any updates since that time.  The Head of Development Services recognised that there were currently some issues within enforcement and regular updates should be something which happened as a matter of courtesy.  She explained that Officers were currently working on a case management system which would ensure that each enquiry was allocated to a responsible Officer who would be required to follow a particular structure which included reporting back where appropriate.  Although this was not detailed in the plan, she provided assurance that it was a key factor behind the scenes.  A Member queried how long it took to resolve a suspected breach and was advised that, whilst this was dependent on the individual circumstances, the majority of cases could be expected to be addressed within a few weeks.  The Senior Planning and Enforcement Officer explained that people were given time to submit a retrospective application in order to address a breach; if that was not forthcoming, consideration would be given as to what action could be taken.  Another Member indicated that members of the public often came to him to discuss breaches as they did not get an answer from the Planning department.  The Head of Development Services provided assurance that the management of cases would be more strictly controlled in future which should help to prevent this.  In addition, it was noted that Page No. 33 of the plan set out that the Council aimed to acknowledge all enquiries within 48 hours of receipt and to name the assigned Officer who would be undertaking the investigation so they would have a point of contact going forward.

65.5           A Member went on to raise concern that the document itself did not include any target dates for implementation and he questioned how delivery would be monitored.  He drew attention to Page No. 27 of the plan which referred to the commitment to planning enforcement set out in the National Planning Policy Reference Panel but pointed out that the plan later stated that it was a discretionary service.  In response, the Head of Development Services explained that it was important to demonstrate that the Council was committed to enforcement and took breaches seriously; notwithstanding this, it should be borne in mind that planning enforcement was a discretionary service.  Officers would look at breaches and take action where possible but the legal tools and powers available were often limited.  Another Member indicated that he would like to see more targets and figures within the plan, for example, the number of cases, how many were resolved and how quickly, in order to see some specific aims for improvement.  The Head of Development Services advised that it was intended to cover this in the monthly report to Planning Committee where cases could also be discussed in more detail if appropriate.  The Member clarified that he was thinking more about general targets in order to take the process forward, rather than specific cases.  The Chief Executive advised that the plan was intended to be a user guide for customers, written in a Plain English format.  Whilst he took the point about monitoring, performance criteria would not normally be included in a public-facing document, other than what was already included within the plan. He suggested that the performance criteria could be identified and pulled into a separate document as the Planning Committee would be responsible for monitoring performance once the plan was in place. 

65.6           A Member questioned whether it was possible to notify Members of any breaches within their areas and the Head of Development Services indicated that this should already be happening and she undertook to check this following the meeting.  The Deputy Chief Executive explained that it was intended to provide a lot more opportunities to ‘self-serve’, not just within planning enforcement, but across a range of Council services.  This was not a swift process but it was felt that Members would benefit significantly from being able to check on particular cases themselves to see what progress was being made as and when they required the information.

65.7           A Member noted that Page No. 28 of the plan stated that the document should be used as a guide only and suggested seeking independent advice.  He did not understand why people were being directed to seek independent advice if the Council was going to enforce against a breach.  The Chief Executive reminded Members that the Planning Enforcement Plan had been written for the customer.  He clarified that it might be appropriate for someone who had potentially committed a breach to seek their own advice - as the enforcing body, the Council was not able to give independent advice - and this was who that statement was aimed at rather than someone being complained of.  He accepted that the wording could be amended to make this clearer.   

65.8           In response to a query as to whether there were adequate resources to deliver the plan and deal with the concerns that had been raised, the Head of Development Services explained that the planning service had been reviewed as part of the wider development services improvement plan.  In an ideal world, there would be a monitoring and compliance officer whose sole job was to ensure that planning permissions were being implemented correctly and to identify any breaches; unfortunately, she did not know of any local authorities which had that luxury and therefore consideration needed to be given as to how to deliver the best possible service within existing resources.  It would be very important to work closely with Building Control Officers who were the “eyes and ears on the street” and to direct resources in the most effective and efficient way. 

65.9           In response to a query regarding how the plan would be progressed, the Head of Democratic Services advised that the plan had been brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration and it would now go forward to the Executive Committee with the comments that had been made.  The Executive Committee would decide whether it agreed with those comments and if any changes needed to be made to the plan prior to consultation.  When the plan was adopted, the Planning Committee would receive monthly monitoring reports on performance; however, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee may wish to scrutinise its effectiveness once it had been in place for a period of time.  In response to a question regarding the role of the Audit Committee, clarification was provided that planning was not within the remit of the Audit Committee; however, an internal audit may help to give assurance that the plan was operating effectively, should that be considered necessary in the future.  In order to ensure that a review process was in place, it would be included in the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme following a 12 month period of operation.  At that time, should Members feel an audit was a more appropriate way forward this could be raised in the normal consideration of the Committee Work Programme.

65.10         Having considered the information provided and views expressed, it was

RESOLVED          That it be RECOMMENDED TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE that the draft Planning Enforcement Plan be APPROVED for public consultation, subject to the comments raised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee being addressed.