Making Your Enforcement Appeal (Guide)

Enforcement notice appeals: Whether to appeal, When to appeal and Who can appeal

This advice is important to you. If you have already been served with a copy of an enforcement notice, please read this immediately.

This information, prepared by us, is meant to help anyone served with a copy of an enforcement notice to decide whether there are grounds for appeal to the Assembly and if so how to appeal.

This advice is not part of the enforcement notice. It is based on the relevant provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (see Appendix 6). The advice relates to appeals made after 1 April 2003 under the new rules and regulations listed in Appendix 5 (pages 55-6). More comprehensive information about the policy for enforcing planning control can be found in ‘Technical Advice Note (Wales) 9: Enforcement of Planning Control’ issued by the former Welsh Office in 1997. Detailed advice on planning enforcement provisions is contained in former Welsh Office Circular 24/97 available from the Stationery Office and through bookshops (see Appendix 5).

Whether to appeal

You must act quickly in deciding whether to appeal. Any appeal must be made before the date on which the notice takes effect (the ‘effective date’).

Your local planning authority (LPA) may serve an enforcement notice on you when they consider you have broken planning control rules. Normally this will be because they consider what you are doing, or have done, is harmful to your neighbourhood. You should bear this in mind when considering whether to appeal.

Before you decide to appeal, please carefully consider the LPA’s reasons for serving the enforcement notice on you.

When to appeal

We must receive your enforcement appeal, or it must be posted in time to be received in the ordinary course of post, before the date on which the notice takes effect. This date is shown in your enforcement notice and should be at least 28 days from when a copy of the enforcement notice is served on you. You should not wait until the last few days. If you do and anything goes wrong, it may be too late to put matters right. This will mean that your enforcement appeal is ‘out of time’ and we will not be able to accept it.

The LPA should have sent you three copies of the appeal form with this booklet and two copies of their enforcement notice. But if you do not have an appeal form and cannot get one quickly, you may appeal by letter.

Who can appeal

Anyone with an interest in the land may appeal, whether or not they have been served with a copy of the enforcement notice. This normally means the owner, tenant or leaseholder. A mortgage company or other lender can also have an interest.

Anyone occupying the land with the owner’s permission may also appeal. But trespassers may not, even if they have been served with a copy of the notice.

If you are unclear about anything, you may find it helpful to consult a professional adviser such as a solicitor, town planning consultant, surveyor or valuer. Or you may prefer to talk the matter over with your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau first.

Sometimes, more than one person has a legal interest in the land to which an enforcement notice relates and their different interests may conflict with each other. For example, the owner of the land may wish the enforcement notice to be upheld, while the occupier of the land may wish to continue with the present use. In these circumstances, it is up to each person with a legal interest to decide how his or her interests will best be served, once an enforcement notice has been issued.

All owners of land are strongly advised to consider the consequences for themselves if they do not appeal against an enforcement notice which they support, but which someone else appeals against. In that event, the owner will have the status of an ‘interested person’, rather than a ‘principal party’ in the appeal. This does not entitle the owner to receive a copy of all the representations made by you and other interested persons (though the owner would be able to see such representations at the LPA’s offices).

When an owner of land does not want to appeal against an enforcement notice, but finds the status of an ‘interested person’ unsatisfactory in relation to an enforcement appeal (for example, an appeal made by a tenant), special arrangements can be made to safeguard the owner’s interest in the appeal. This will involve treating the owner as an ‘interested owner’ for the purpose of the appeal

Someone who is given the administrative status of ‘interested owner’ will be given the same treatment as an appellant. An opportunity will be given to attend any local inquiry, or be present at a site inspection by the Inspector, and to see and comment on any written representations made by the principal parties, and any other interested persons, during the progress of the appeal. If you are an owner of the land and wish to have the status of ‘interested owner’ in somebody else’s appeal against an enforcement notice, you should tell us as soon as you know that an enforcement appeal has been made.

Welsh language

We deliver an equally high standard of service to our customers in Welsh and English.

We recognise that our customers can express their views better in their preferred language of communication. Accordingly, we welcome all communications to us in Welsh or English.

Any person wishing to speak at an inquiry or a hearing in the Welsh language, may do so, but it would be helpful if you could inform us beforehand so that arrangements can be made.

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