Make a complaint

What is a breach of planning control?

A breach of planning control is defined in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as:

1. The carrying out of a development without the required planning permission; and
2. Failing to comply with any condition or limitation subject to which planning permission has been granted.

Examples of breaches of planning control:

• Building work, engineering operations and material changes of use, which are carried out without planning permission, where planning permission is required.
• Development which has planning permission but is not carried out in accordance with the approved plans.
• Failure to comply with conditions or the terms of a legal agreement attached to a permission or consent.
• Advertisements that require express consent under the Advertisement Regulations, but are displayed without consent being granted.*
• Demolition within a conservation area, without conservation area consent, when it is required.*
• Works carried out to a 'listed' building, which affect its historic character or setting, without listed building consent being granted.*
• Failure to comply with the requirements of a planning legal notice, such as enforcement, discontinuance, stop notice, etc.*

*These items constitute an offence.

The council will not become involved in matters that are purely neighbourly disputes and, in particular, cannot become involved in boundary disputes or enforcing covenants on deeds.

How to make a complaint

We will need to know:

• The precise location of the site or property to which the complaint relates.
• The exact nature of concern, meaning a description of the suspected breach of planning control.
• If possible, the identity of the person/organisation responsible and the date and/or time the breach began.
• Your contact details (name, address, and telephone number) are also required as anonymous complaints are not accepted.

What happens to your complaint?

• Your complaint will be registered, prioritise, allocated and investigated accordingly.
• We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days if a postal address or email address is provided.
• We will advise you of the outcome of the investigation.

Due to the nature and complexity of some breaches of planning control, and workloads, we cannot always provide regular updates throughout the investigation. Therefore, if you require an update, you should contact the case officer using the reference quoted on the acknowledgement letter.

If you suspect there is a breach of planning control please let us know by completing ourPlanning Enforcement - Complaint Form.

Please note: we do not accept complaints sent to us by email.