Bassetlaw Council consults on planning enforcement

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Bassetlaw District Council has launched a consultation to seek the views of residents, businesses and other people of how its Planning Enforcement is carried out so that it can improve its response to service users across the district.

The eight-week consultation on a Draft Planning Enforcement Protocol – how the Council will investigate and deal with reported breaches of planning control in a consistent, fair and proportionate way – is the first part of a staged approach to a new Planning Enforcement Strategy for Bassetlaw.

The Council has a duty to investigate alleged breaches of planning control and has powers to take action where it is appropriate to do so. The Draft Planning Enforcement Protocol aims to make the process easy to understand and to improve communication with everyone who uses the service.

All of the responses and comments received as part of the consultation of the Draft Protocol will shape any revisions and changes that are needed, with the final aim of improving how the Council delivers this service and the overall experience of customers.

Cllr Jo White, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: “There are times when buildings or walls are being built or demolished, or trees are being cut down and concerns are raised that planning regulations are not being appropriately followed.

“It's important that concerns and complaints from residents, businesses and other stakeholders can be easily raised and that there is a very clear process that our officers will follow.

“I welcome the establishment of this set of guidelines and I hope that people will take a look at what is being proposed and tell us if there is anything that needs strengthening or requires more information during this consultation period. Your feedback is important and it will inform the next stages of this review.”

Just some of the areas that the Council’s Draft Planning Enforcement Protocol includes are:

• The remit of Planning Enforcement – What the service can and cannot investigate and where other legislation is the correct route;
• How to report an alleged breach – The information that the Planning Enforcement Officer will need in order to pursue the investigation;
• Service standards and investigation timescales – What we will do, when we will do it, and how we prioritise;
• Initial investigation process and establishing a breach – The work the team will undertake to resolve a query;
• The process from when an Enforcement Notice is served – Who may receive an Enforcement Notice and how the process is managed;
• Appealing an Enforcement Notice – How to appeal and what are appropriate grounds;
• Prosecution and direct action – Under what circumstances the Council may prosecute, the enforcement action open to us to consider, and how we may seek to recover our costs;
• Trees and Woodlands – What to do if works have been (or are being) undertaken to protected trees;

You can read the Draft Planning Enforcement Protocol and submit your views through the consultation by visiting www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/planningenforcement

The consultation will take place over eight weeks and will close on Thursday 17th February, 2022."