Planning and Development Act 2024
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Functions of enforcement authority | ||
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348. (1) Where unauthorised development has been, is being, or is likely to be, carried out or continued, an enforcement authority may do one or more than one of the following: | ||
(a) subject to subsection (3), serve an enforcement notice; | ||
(b) apply to the court for a planning injunction; or | ||
(c) bring and prosecute summary proceedings in relation to an offence under this Part. | ||
(2) Where an enforcement authority considers that, in relation to land or a maritime site within its enforcement area, there is reason to believe that unauthorised development has been, is being, or is likely to be, carried out or continued, the enforcement authority may, subject to subsection (3), do one or both of the following: | ||
(a) carry out any investigations or make any inquiries that it considers appropriate; | ||
(b) serve a warning letter. | ||
(3) (a) Where a planning complaint is made to an enforcement authority in relation to land or a maritime site within its enforcement area, the enforcement authority shall investigate the matter. | ||
(b) Where a planning complaint is made to an enforcement authority in relation to land or a maritime site within its enforcement area, the enforcement authority shall, as soon as may be (and, as an objective, within 6 weeks after receipt of the planning complaint), serve a warning letter in relation to the development or proposed development concerned, unless— | ||
(i) in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (4), the enforcement authority serves an urgent enforcement notice in respect of the development or proposed development to which the planning complaint concerned relates, | ||
(ii) the enforcement authority— | ||
(I) makes an application for a planning injunction, or | ||
(II) brings proceedings for an offence under section 347 , | ||
in respect of the development or proposed development to which the planning complaint concerned relates, or | ||
(iii) the enforcement authority considers that— | ||
(I) the development or proposed development to which the planning complaint concerned relates is of a trivial or minor nature, or | ||
(II) the complaint is vexatious, frivolous or without substance or foundation. | ||
(4) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), an enforcement authority shall not serve an enforcement notice in relation to development or proposed development without first serving a warning letter in relation to that development or proposed development. | ||
(b) An enforcement authority may serve an enforcement notice (in this Part referred to as an “urgent enforcement notice”) without first serving a warning letter if it considers that, due to the nature of the development or proposed development concerned or any other material considerations, an urgent need to serve such notice exists. | ||
(5) An enforcement authority shall, not later than 2 weeks after the making of a decision not to serve a warning letter in accordance with this Part, notify in writing the person who made the complaint of the decision. | ||
(6) Subject to subsection (7) and without prejudice to the power of an enforcement authority to bring and prosecute proceedings for an offence under section 347 , an enforcement authority— | ||
(a) having carried out such investigations as it considers appropriate, and | ||
(b) having taken into consideration— | ||
(i) any planning complaint, | ||
(ii) any submissions or observations received in response to a warning letter within the period referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 349 , | ||
(iii) any declaration under section 10 , and | ||
(iv) any relevant grant of permission, | ||
shall, as soon as practicable thereafter and if of the opinion that an unauthorised development has been, is being or is likely to be carried out or continued, do one or both of the following: | ||
(I) subject to subsection (4), serve an enforcement notice in accordance with section 350 in relation to the development or proposed development concerned; | ||
(II) make an application for a planning injunction in accordance with section 351 in relation to the development or proposed development concerned. | ||
(7) An enforcement authority may decide not to take enforcement action where the enforcement authority considers that— | ||
(a) the development or proposed development concerned is of a trivial or minor nature, | ||
(b) enforcement action is not warranted having regard to any grant of permission made in relation to the development concerned, or | ||
(c) in accordance with section 353 , enforcement action may not be taken, or | ||
(d) there are other compelling reasons for not taking enforcement action. | ||
(8) A decision of an enforcement authority under subsection (7) and the reasons therefor shall be notified in writing to— | ||
(a) all persons served with a warning letter in relation to the development or proposed development concerned, and | ||
(b) any person who made a planning complaint in relation to the development or proposed development concerned. | ||
(9) Particulars of each of the following shall be entered in the register by the enforcement authority concerned: | ||
(a) the service of a warning letter; | ||
(b) the withdrawal of a warning letter under subsection (6) of section 349 ; | ||
(c) a decision under subsection (7) not to take enforcement action; | ||
(d) the service of an enforcement notice; | ||
(e) the service of an enforcement notice in accordance with subsection (5) of section 350 ; | ||
(f) the extension of an enforcement notice under subsection (6) of section 350 ; | ||
(g) the withdrawal (in whole or in part) of an enforcement notice under subsection (12) of section 350 ; and | ||
(h) compliance with an enforcement notice by a person on whom the notice was served. | ||
(10) The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority and a coastal planning authority may agree in writing that the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority shall be the enforcement authority in respect of a particular development or proposed development situated or proposed to be situated— | ||
(a) in the nearshore area of the coastal planning authority, or | ||
(b) partly on land and partly in the nearshore area of the coastal planning authority, | ||
and for that purpose, the maritime site (in the case of an agreement under this subsection to which paragraph (a) applies) or the land and maritime site (in the case of an agreement under this subsection to which paragraph (b) applies) upon which the development or proposed development is situated or proposed to be situated shall form part of the enforcement area of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority. | ||
(11) Where a planning complaint is received by an enforcement authority and the complaint relates to development or proposed development situated or proposed to be situated in the enforcement area of another enforcement authority, the first-mentioned enforcement authority shall— | ||
(a) send the complaint to the second-mentioned enforcement authority, and | ||
(b) notify the person who made the planning complaint accordingly, | ||
and the complaint shall, for the purposes of this Part, be deemed to have been made to the second-mentioned enforcement authority on the date that the complaint was so sent to the second-mentioned enforcement authority. | ||
(12) A report of a local authority under section 50 of the Local Government Act 1991 or section 221 of the Local Government Act 2001 shall specify the number of— | ||
(a) warning letters served by that authority, | ||
(b) enforcement notices served by that authority, | ||
(c) proceedings for an offence brought under this Part by that authority, and | ||
(d) applications for planning injunctions made by that authority, | ||
during the period to which the report relates. |