Guide to taking part in enforcement appeals

How appeals are made and decided

Your LPA can serve an enforcement notice by post, by giving it to the person on the land, or by fixing it to an object on the land.

Enforcement notices are served on the owners and users of the land or building and on anyone else who has an interest in it. Only those people can appeal against the notice. `Interest' means a legal or similar interest, such as being the owner or a tenant or lessee. A mortgage company or other lender can also have an interest in the land. Nobody else can appeal against a notice, but they can make their views known about an appeal.

An appeal must be made before the date the enforcement notice will begin to apply. If no one appeals against the notice before that date, the notice will apply from that date. This means that the notice will be recorded in the relevant planning register and will show in any `searches' carried out if the land or building is sold.

The enforcement notice sets out what must be done to meet planning control rules. If the person the notice is addressed to does not obey within the time limit given, they may be committing an offence. And if the LPA decide to take them to court, they may have to pay a fine.

Enforcement appeals are made to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, or to the National Assembly for Wales. Our Inspectors usually decide appeals. They are completely impartial and are professionally qualified in planning, enforcement or a related area, such as law or architecture.

There are some appeals which the Secretary of State will decide himself - for example, if there are issues which affect more than just the local area. In these cases, our Inspector will still assess the appeal but then will send a report and recommendation to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will consider whether to accept our Inspector's recommendation, and then will send out a decision letter.

When we receive an appeal, we will check that it has been made in time and that the person qualifies to appeal.

Our Inspector can deal with appeals in one of three ways:

• The LPA and the appellant can make written statements.



• We can hold a public local inquiry.



• We can hold a hearing (less formal than a full inquiry).

Our Inspector will always take into account all the facts provided and will visit the site before making a decision. The decision letter will be addressed to the appellant and copies will be sent to the LPA and anyone else who has asked for one.

All the appeal procedures, and how you can become involved, are described in more detail later on in this leaflet.

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