Planning Disputes
Planning appeals
If you disagree with a decision to either allow or refuse planning permission, an appeal can be made to the Planning Inspectorate. There are strict timescales within which to make an appeal, usually 8 or 12 weeks.
Appeals are dealt with by written representations, at a hearing or by way of a full Inquiry.
Notices
If the Local Planning Authority considers that there has been a breach of planning control (i.e. when a development has planning permission and it has not been complied with or a development has been built without planning permission) the Authority can serve a notice on the developer. There are several notices, the most common being;
Planning Contravention Notices
These are notices issued by the Local Planning Authority when it is suspected that there has been a breach of planning control and the Local Planning Authority requires more information.
Enforcement Notices
These are used when a developer has breached planning control and needs to take steps to remedy the breach. Enforcement Notices must be complied with within a certain timeframe. Enforcement Notices can be appealed and if an appeal is going to be made, the appeal must be lodged before the end of the timeframe.
Stop Notices
These must be served with Enforcement Notices and require a developer to cease certain activities on a development on the basis of breach of planning control.
Breach of Condition Notices
If you do not comply with a condition in your planning permission or only partially comply, the Local Planning Authority can serve a Breach of Condition Notice requiring compliance. These Notices cannot be appealed. As such, if you disagree with the notice or it is legally incorrect, an application for permission to apply for Judicial Review would need to be made.
If you have been served with a planning notice, get in touch with us as soon as possible so that we can discuss your options with you.
Judicial Review
Judicial Review is a complex process intended to challenge the legality of decisions made by public bodies such as Local Planning Authorities or the Planning Inspectorate. The grounds for Judicial Review are stringent and difficult to prove, however, if there is a case, an application for permission to apply for Judicial Review must be made promptly, and at the very latest, within 6 weeks of the decision being challenged.
The grounds for Judicial Review are that when making the decision, the Local Planning Authority or the Planning Inspectorate made an error in relation to the law, acted irrationally and made a decision that was unreasonable in all the circumstances, or there was unfairness in the decision making process.
The solicitors at Sewell Law have experience in challenging the decisions of public bodies by Judicial Review. If you wish to challenge a decision which you consider may have been made unlawfully, or there was unfairness in the way the decision was made or the decision was unreasonable, get in touch with us as soon as possible after the decision is made and we can discuss the position with you.