What happens following a complaint

The Planning Enforcement team will aim to acknowledge the receipt of all complaints within five working days. Dependent on workloads and service demands, it may not always be possible for this target to be met.

Following the receipt and acknowledgement of a complaint, a case will be created on our database and this will be allocated to an officer for investigation in due course. Due to service demands and limited resources, it may be a number of months before new enquiries are allocated to an officer for investigation. New enquiries are allocated based on the order in which they are received and the enforcement team’s priorities.

Complainants will be provided with updates on their enquiry at key stages of the investigation or when significant progress has been made. Examples of this include:

• Following a site visit or inspection and initial assessment of the alleged breach
• When a challenge letter has been sent to the offender
• When a retrospective planning application is received by the council
• When formal enforcement action is taken
• When an investigation is completed and the case has been closed

In some cases, for alleged breaches relating to a change of use, it may be necessary for officers to undertake numerous site visits and monitor a site in order to gather evidence of a breach or build a picture of the scale and nature of a breach. We will on occasion ask complainants to assist us in this process by keeping log sheets over a period of time.

In some cases, it may be necessary for us to rely on evidence from complainants in order to take action and you will need to consider whether you are willing to actively assist the Council by collecting evidence and acting as a witness at an appeal or in Court. The Council’s Enforcement Service will explain what may be required of you in these cases.