Planning Enforcement and Monitoring Plan

3.1 The purpose of Buckinghamshire Council’s Planning Compliance and Enforcement Service is to investigate reports of alleged breaches of planning control, assess whether planning harm is occurring, and decide whether formal enforcement action is justified.

3.2 The Council investigates a variety of alleged breaches of planning control. Such breaches may include unauthorised building works, changes of use, breaches of planning conditions, unlawful works to trees and hedgerows.

3.3 Issues that we are unable to investigate include: party wall matters, fly-tipping, graffiti, noise concerns, building site health and safety concerns.

More information about what we can and cannot investigate can be found on the Council webpages together with relevant details of the relevant service, department or authority.

3.4 Under Section 171A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a breach of planning control includes carrying out development without the required planning permission or failing to comply with conditions attached to a permission. The Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) make clear that enforcement is a discretionary power. Councils are expected to act proportionately and only take formal action when it is expedient—meaning when the breach causes clear and identifiable planning harm and it is in the public interest to intervene

3.5 While we do not condone unauthorised development, enforcement is not about punishing individuals. It is about remedying harm to the local area, environment, or public amenity. Planning legislation allows for retrospective planning applications, meaning that carrying out works without permission is not a criminal offence in most cases. When deciding whether to take formal action, we consider whether a planning application for the development would likely have been refused or only approved with conditions.