Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Planning Enforcement Manager.

The committee considered a report of the Planning Enforcement Manager, which invited comments on the Development Management Local Enforcement Plan 2024, which set out Dorset Council’s approach to enforcement matters in line with the National Planning Policy Framework.

Councillors considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, comments in the following areas were raised:

·       An overview of resourcing in the Enforcement Team was provided and a request made for a breakdown of the number of cases dealt with, within each area

·       The position with temporary campsites. It was noted that although the proposed plan did not refer to specific cases, consideration could be given to having report templates and notices in place to assist with responding to issues as required

·       Information provided on how cases were considered and allocated, and it was noted that the proposed plan would set this out

·       A point was noted about the use of language within the plan and a request that this be reviewed to ensure it was written in plain English. This would be reviewed following the meeting

·       The importance of good communication in this area was raised and a need for understanding of how enforcement worked by ward councillors and residents

·       There was a need to make points relating to the consequences of non-compliance with planning / enforcement issues more robust within the plan and in communications with the public, with the particular example of actions around tree preservation orders discussed

·       The Planning Enforcement Manager provided an overview of the way the council would work with parties before formal enforcement action was taken and provided specific detail around how issues with trees were dealt with

·       In response to a question about the follow up on planning permissions being received, the Service Manager for Development Management and Enforcement noted that there was a reliance on ward councillors, parish and town councils and the public to raise potential issues with non-compliance with planning permissions. A separate piece of work was underway to look at adding a monitoring fee as part of Section 106 agreements for larger developments, which could be used to resource effective monitoring in these cases

·       The health and safety of enforcement officers was considered.

The Chair highlighted that the report was to be considered by Cabinet on 15 October 2024. He noted that there was a general level of support for the proposed plan within the committee and noted that the comments raised by the committee, summarised above, would be presented to Cabinet for their review.