Report a planning breach

Once we have finished our investigation, we will send you our findings.

Our investigation will usually have 1 of 3 outcomes:

1. No planning breach has taken place
2. A planning breach has taken place, but there is no significant harm
3. A planning breach has taken place, and there is significant harm

1. No planning breach has taken place

This could be because:

• the works do not need planning permission, or
• too much time has passed since the breach took place. 

We will not take any further action.

2. A planning breach has taken place, but there is no significant harm

We will ask the owner to apply for retrospective planning permission.

3. A planning breach has taken place and there is significant harm

We will try to work with the owner to remedy the breach informally first.

The exception to this is if substantial or irreversible harm would be caused by not taking immediate enforcement action.

If we can't remedy the breach informally, we will take formal action.

This will usually involve a formal planning enforcement notice that will set out:

• What needs to be done to solve the breach
• How long they have to solve the breach

We publish planning enforcement notices on our website.

The Council can prosecute some planning breaches without serving a notice. For example, felling or pruning works to protected trees and unauthorised advertisements.