ABSTRACT
It is not a criminal offence to carry out development without planning permission or to fail to comply with any planning condition. The scheme of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is to first define what is meant by a breach of planning control and then to provide that a local planning authority may take steps to enforce a breach of planning control within specified time limits. Enforcement involves the issue of notices specifying the alleged breaches and requiring the breaches to be remedied. Subject to any right of appeal, it is only at that stage that a criminal offence may be committed if the requirements of such a notice are not complied with.
