Guide to taking part in enforcement appeals - If you want to comment on someone else's appeal - January 2004
1 The enforcement appeals process
When does an LPA serve an enforcement notice?
1.1 Your LPA is usually your local district or borough council. They are responsible for planning control in your area. If you put up a building or carry out a change of use without getting planning permission from the LPA you may be breaking planning control rules. If you already have planning permission but do not meet the conditions attached to it, you are also breaking planning control rules.
1.2 It is not an offence to break planning control rules. But if your LPA decide that the building or use is not acceptable, they may decide to send you an enforcement notice.
1.3 The LPA do not have to send you an enforcement notice just because you have broken planning control rules. They must have other good reasons and a clear idea of what they want you to do to put things right. For example, an enforcement notice might tell you to remove a building, stop a use, make the building or use acceptable, or meet the conditions of your planning permission.
Who can appeal?
1.4 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.
1.5 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. Nobody else can appeal against a notice, but they can make their views known about an appeal.
What happens if no appeal is made
1.6 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.
1.7 The enforcement notice sets out what must be done to meet the 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.
Who decides an appeal
1.8 Appeals are judged by Inspectors, who are completely unbiased and professionally qualified in planning or a related area, like law or architecture.
1.9 An Inspector will decide most appeals, but there are some appeals that the Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will decide (for example, proposals that will affect more than just the local area). In those cases, the Inspector will still assess the appeal, but they will send a report with their recommendation to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then considers whether to accept the Inspector’s recommendation, and issues a decision letter through DCLG.
How it is decided
1.10 The Inspector can deal with appeals in one of three ways.
- The LPA and the appellant can make written statements.
- A public local inquiry can be held.
- A hearing can be held (less formal than a full inquiry).
1.11 The Inspector will always take into account all the facts provided and will normally 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.
1.11 All the appeal procedures, and how you can become involved, are described in further detail in their own sections of this booklet.
