DEVELOPERS who disregard or breach planning conditions in the Lutterworth area could be taken to court under new enforcement practices.
Harborough District Council (HDC) has approved a new enforcement plan for dealing with planning complaints such as altering land or buildings without planning permission, unauthorised development in conservation areas, changes to listed buildings or advertisements, and keeping untidy land.
The updated Planning Enforcement Policy sets out a more proactive approach to monitoring planning control across the district, outlines the role of the planning enforcement service in relation to open spaces, and stresses the importance of landscape management plans.
A new section has been included on making complaints about the service, to allow residents to hold it to account.
The council will aim to resolve matters via informal and non-enforcing routes whenever possible, and will only use formal planning enforcement as a last resort where it appears a breach cannot be resolved.
The council will also keep the new policy document under review in the light of future changes to the national planning system.
HDC’s planning spokesman Coun Simon Galton said: “We have a responsibility to residents to ensure effective and proportionate enforcement of planning control.
“Our Planning Enforcement Policy 2024-2027 sets out, in a clear and concise way, the practices which the council’s planning enforcement service is taking following national planning guidance.
“One of the early changes we made was to add a full time Compliance Officer into the Planning Enforcement Team to give the council more capacity to identify issues early and to ensure they get corrected quickly.
“We are committed to working with developers to ensure building projects can go ahead with minimal disruption and within the boundaries of planning law.”
Visit https://tinyurl.com/2p85cjpu and click on Cabinet to view the council’s Planning Enforcement Policy 2024-2027.
