Agenda item

Members gave consideration to a report regarding the Local Enforcement Plan (previously known as Planning Enforcement Policy). This was an item selected by Committee for pre-scrutiny and as such, had not yet been passed by the Prosperous Communities Committee. The Chairman commented to Members that this allowed the opportunity for the policy to be refined according to their scrutiny prior to submission to the subsequent committee.

The Housing and Enforcement Manager provided Members with an overview to the Local Enforcement Plan and explained it was designed to set out the approach to be taken when dealing with planning enforcement matters. The report also provided information in response to the development management audit report completed in September 2017, within which the planning enforcement service received limited assurance.

The Chairman enquired of the Housing and Enforcement Manager how he intended to ensure that planning conditions were realistic and enforceable in order to avoid instances of dissatisfaction if conditions were breached but nothing done to enforce them. The Housing and Enforcement Manager explained that he would be working closely with the Planning and Development Manager and that they realised there were problems with enforcing some of the older conditions. He explained that they would look at possibly standardising the wording of conditions whilst keeping them specific to the planning application but it was also necessary to use common sense, for example if a condition stated no work after 5pm it was reasonable to expect loud site work to be completed by this time but quieter work such as inside decorating would not be considered a nuisance. He also clarified that in the case of older conditions, the enforcement team would liaise with the original consultee (for example Highways Agency) to assess relevance under current circumstances.

The Chairman also asked what would be put in place for the team to measure their success or otherwise. The Housing and Enforcement Manager stated that he was aware that the team needed to be clear in their feedback to enforcement enquiries and also communicate their enforcement successes in order to highlight with the public that their concerns were listened to. He stated that the timescales for acknowledging and responding to concerns needed to be tightened up and this was easily recorded to demonstrate improvements. He also explained that he was working with the Customer Experience Officer in relation to enforcement complaints and relevant timescales for resolution.

A Member of the Committee who had been concerned about the performance of the enforcement team during the discussions about the Progress and Delivery report noted that there was more reassurance from the points being raised with the Housing and Enforcement Manager but highlighted that it was essential to improve communication with all who raised an issue, even if it was to advise of how long it would take to look at their concerns.

It was noted that it was important to be consistent and ensure that all planning conditions served a purpose. The Housing and Enforcement Manager agreed this was the case and also confirmed that they look at the impact of a concern on the community as much as the alleged breach. For example, a low impact issue could be a larger consideration if it affected an increased number of residents.

The Chairman summarised that following discussions, the Committee would like to see the Local Enforcement Plan provide more clarity on what measures of success would be put in place and how conditions would be better managed between the Planning Department and the Enforcement Team.

With this agreed it was

            RESOLVED that:

a)    the responses given in regards to the planning enforcement audit be noted; and

b)    pre-scrutiny comments regarding measuring the enforcement successes and planning conditions be included in the Local Enforcement Plan for consideration by the Prosperous Communities Committee.