4. Code of Practice For Enforcement Of Planning Controls

Introduction

This Code of Practice has been prepared to let you know the service we will provide when you complain to the Council about an unauthorised activity or development, or non-compliance with conditions imposed on a planning permission. It is principally concerned with complaints relating to:

• unauthorised development, activities or uses;
  
  
• non-compliance with conditions imposed on a planning permission;
  
  
• unauthorised advertisements;
  
  
• untidy land or sites.

Submission of Complaints

We will investigate written complaints, those made at the Planning Section reception and complaints made through a local Councillor or other elected representatives. If you complain by telephone, you will be asked to follow up the complaint in writing. 

Disclosure of Identity of Complainant

We will not normally disclose your identity or release your complaint for public inspection, without first advising you of an intention to do so. However, if formal legal action is taken and an appeal is subsequently submitted against such action, then it may be necessary to reveal your identity as part of the Council's case at appeal. Similarly, where prosecution proceedings are instituted it may be necessary to reveal your identity to the Court.

Initial Processing of Complaint

We will:-

• register your complaint and allocate a case officer to investigate the matter within 1 working day of receipt of the complaint;
  
  
• give a written acknowledgment of receipt of your complaint within 3 working days of receipt where appropriate and advise you of the case officer allocated to investigate the matter, unless you have already been advised of this information on the telephone or at the Planning Section reception.

Investigation of a valid Complaint about a Planning Matter

We will:-

• carry out an initial inspection of the site which is the subject of your complaint within 5 days of receipt of the complaint;
  
  
• undertake further site inspections, as necessary, to investigate your complaint, monitor the site or interview those believed to be the cause. If appropriate, the need for your assistance in site monitoring may also be requested at this stage;
  
  
• serve a Planning Contravention Notice where it is necessary to obtain further information;
  
  
• advise you in writing or by telephone, within 25 working days of receipt of your complaint if the investigation is likely to be protracted and if there is a need for further investigation, or of an intention to report the matter to the Borough Council's Development Control Committee;
  
  
• you will normally also be advised of the date when the Development Control Committee will consider the matter.

Complaints about Non-Planning Matters

The Planning Section will not investigate a complaint or undertake site inspections if your complaint is not a planning matter. You will be advised of this in writing, or by telephone, within 10 working days of the receipt of your complaint. Any complaint relating to another function of the Council will be referred to the relevant Section or Department for consideration.

Instigation of Formal Action

Where appropriate, we will seek the opinion of the Council's Assistant Director Legal Services on the merits of the case, the evidence available to us and the necessity and expediency of enforcement or other legal action. Following the initial investigations and compilation of information, you will be informed in writing of whether we can consider taking any formal action. If we consider that no action can be taken, you will be informed in writing, or by telephone, within 10 working days of this decision being made. The letter will give the reasons for the decision. 

If formal action is considered to be appropriate, we will either:- 

• serve a Breach of Condition Notice within 15 working days of the completion of the investigations; or
  
  
• prepare a report for consideration at the next available meeting of the Borough Council's Development Control Committee. This could result in enforcement or other legal action being authorized, or the Committee resolving that no further action be taken.

We will advise you if we have issued a Breach of Condition Notice, or advise you of the Development Control Committee's decision within 3 working days of the date of the meeting. 

Service of Breach of Condition,  Enforcement and Untidy Site Notices

1. Issue of a Breach of Condition Notice
   Where the service of this Notice has been agreed, we will issue a Breach of Condition Notice within 10 working days of the authorisation by the Assistant Director Planning to serve the Notice(s) where all those persons affected by the Notice(s) are known to us, or within 35 working days where there is a need to serve a formal "Requisition for Information Notice" to identify all affected parties. 
   
   
2. Issue of an Enforcement Notice
   Where the service of this Notice has been agreed by the Borough Council's Development Control Committee, we will identify all affected parties (which normally involves the service of a Requisition for Information Notice) and issue the Notice within 35 working days of the date of the Committee authorisation. 
   
   
3. Issue of Untidy Site Notice
   Where the service of this Notice has been agreed by the Borough Council's Development Control Committee, we will identify all affected parties (which normally involves the service of a Requisition for Information Notice) and issue the Notice within 35 working days of the date of the Committee authorisation.
   

Checking Compliance with Notices

Upon the expiry of the relevant period for compliance with any Notice, we will inspect the site within 10 working days of the date for compliance, to check whether or not a Notice has been complied with. 

Where a Notice has been complied with, no further action will be taken. 

Where a Notice has not been complied with, the Assistant Director Legal Services will be instructed to institute prosecution proceedings. 

If, in the opinion of the Assistant Director Planning, there has been a material change of circumstances since the issue of the Notice then prior to instructing the Assistant Director Legal Services to institute action , the matter will be reported back to the Borough Council's Development Control Committee within 30 working days of the inspection. 

Appeals

Where an appeal is submitted against an Enforcement Notice, we will notify you in writing within 15 days of the appeal being certified as valid by the Planning Inspectorate. We will also provide you with details of the appeal reference, the Officer dealing with the appeal and the address and timescale for submission of representations to the Planning Inspectorate.

Explanatory Notes

A Requisition for Information Notice is a Notice served by the Council's Assistant Director Legal Services upon occupies of premises or land, requiring information as to interest in that land. It is used prior to the issue of the Notices listed below, where such information is necessary to ensure that a Notice is correctly served. It is an offence not to comply with the Notice. On occasions, the failure to respond to such a Notice may delay the service of one of the Notices listed below.

A Planning Contravention Notice is a Notice served by the Assistant Director Planning Services, normally on owners or occupies of properties or those carrying out operations on land, where it appears to the Council that there may have been a breach of Planning Control. The Notice requires those that it is served upon to provide information about the use or operations to the Council within a specified time period. It also affords the person on whom it is served the opportunity to discuss the alleged breach(es) with the Council's officers. It is not a legal charge on the land or property to which it relates, but it is an offence not to complete and return the Notice within the specified period.

An Untidy Site Notice is a Legal Notice (also known as a Section 215 Notice) served by the Assistant Director Legal Services and is binding on those on which it has been served and the land to which it relates. A Notice represents a legal charge on the property. Its purpose is to secure the tidying of a site in the interests of the amenities of an area. If an appeal is submitted against the Notice before it comes into effect, it cannot be enforced until the appeal is determined by the Magistrates Court. It is an offence not to comply with this Notice within the specified time period.

An Enforcement Notice is a Legal Notice served by the Assistant Director Legal Services, which is binding on those to whom it is served and the land to which it relates. It is used to secure the cessation of unauthorised uses, operations or activities. A Notice represents a legal charge on the property. If an appeal is submitted against the Notice before it comes into effect, it cannot then do so until the appeal is dismissed. It is an offence not to comply with this Notice within the specified period.

A Breach of Condition Notice is a special form of Enforcement action and is served by the Assistant Director Legal Planning Services, where a breach or non-compliance with a condition attached to a planning permission has occurred. It is served upon those responsible for the breach. There is no right of appeal against this Notice and it is an offence not to comply with it in the specified time period.

A Listed Building Enforcement Notice is a special form of Enforcement action which relates to unauthorised development in respect of statutorily Listed Buildings. If an appeal is submitted against the Notice before it comes into effect, it cannot then do so until the appeal is dismissed. It is an offence not to comply with this Notice within the specified period.

Prosecution action is legal action brought by the Council in the Magistrates Court normally in relation to breaches of planning control as follows:-

• the display of advertisements without the express consent of the Council where it is needed;
  
  
• unauthorised works to Listed Buildings;
  
  
• non-compliance with any of the above Notices within the specified periods

For further information and advice please contact the:

Development Control Group
Tel: 01903 221350
Minicom: 01903 204500
E-Mail: planning@worthing.gov.uk

or

Visit our web site at www.worthing.gov.uk/planning

A leaflet version of this Code of Practice is available in large print from our office.

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