Ceredigion Planning Enforcement Problems

It appears that Ceredigion Council plays lip-service to enforcement of planning controls. This was revealed in last week’s meeting of the Council’s Development Control Committee.

The meeting was told that the one enforcement officer working for the Council deals with some 400 cases a year. The Planning Department reported that following a survey of local authorities in Wales it was revealed that most councils employ at least two enforcement officers and have an annual average number of cases of no more than 200, often less. The result is that the service at Ceredigion is reactionary rather than adopting a pro-active approach i.e. there is only capacity to respond to complaints rather than to keep a watchful eye over developments within the County as they are being built. Does Ceredigion have statistics on the number of retrospective applications that it deals with? Surely another enforcement officer would be almost self-financing if such a post concentrates on getting planning applications for developments under-way without consent?

This is astonishing and a recipe for developers to do what they want.

But isn't planning enforcement a statutory function? Aren't councils now required to monitor developments as they proceed? The Government has introduced charges for conditions monitoring. But how many authorities I wonder have a proper and systematic process in place to ensure that each condition is effectively managed? Planners are notorious for issuing permissions with loads of conditions in a 'belt and braces' approach. But they rarely monitor conditions and chasing applicants for information to discharge conditions is rarely undertaken - but the fee for submission is also lost as a result!

But it seems that developers can make hay in Ceredigion - forget about the rules, just carry on as the likelihood of being caught out is slim.