ABSTRACT
Enforcement action by local planning authorities can be undertaken by the issuing of: 1 an enforcement notice; 2 a Breach of Condition Notice (BCN); 3 a stop notice; or 4 an injunction.
The recipient of an enforcement notice is required by the local planning authority to take action to overcome the alleged breach of planning control within a specified period of time, which can be as short as 28 days after the notice has been served. At this stage, it is an alleged breach of planning control and is, therefore, open to challenge by lodging an appeal to the Secretary of State. In the event of an appeal being lodged, the immediate effect is to extend the period for compliance stated by the local planning authority in its notice until the matter has been decided by the Secretary of State and, in the meanwhile, the alleged breach can continue unless the local authority issues a stop notice (see Chapter 18, para 18.9).
