On 30/01/2015 20:00, CWatters wrote:
>
> It seems they need consent...
Planning enforcement process is long and slow and tedious. Some of its
stages go like this:
(1) Someone has to complain to the planning authority (PAs can't
necessarily afford to employ people to go round looking for trouble
these days, it's likely to be a reactive only service).
(2) When it comes to the top of the pile, enforcement officer writes to
developer (if they can find them! - which could be a separate game all
by itself) inviting them to regularise the situation by applying for
retrospective permission. With a deadline, during which period the ad
remains in place.
(3) An application might be made, but that seems unlikely as a fee is
payable. If an application *is* made, it can have various "accidental"
omissions and errors, so that it has to go backwards and forwards
several times, over several months, before it is accepted as a valid
application. Then it goes onto a case officers pile, and there should be
(but isn't always) a decision within another two months, during which
time the ad remains in place. Let's assume that the decision is a
rejection: the developer has, so far, bought themselves six months at
the cost of a not-very-expensive application fee. But it gets better -
they can appeal, and that's another few months until the appeal gets
dismissed.
(4) So, after a failed appeal or after a failure to put in a
retrospective application, in due course, if they notice or there's
another complaint, the PA can start issuing statutory notices requiring
the developer to undo the development. With deadlines, during which
periods the advertisement can remain in place.
(5) Should the developer choose not to comply with the statutory
notices, the PA can take them to court. With a delay until the hearing,
and various deadlines involved in the court processes, during which time
the advertisement remains in place.
So, OK, after a year or three it is theoretically possible that the
developer can be sent to prison for contempt of court, but more likely
is they'll just move the trailer to the next layby, at which point the
process starts again from the beginning. So long as someone bothers to
complain again.
And this is all your tax money being spent. Good value or not, d'you think?
--
Tim Ward
www.brettward.co.uk