Council may fail to enforce old planning breaches

Dorset Council said 170 cases were so old that some of them might be immune from enforcement

A council has warned it may not be able to enforce some breaches of planning permission because it failed to act on time.

Dorset Council has 170 cases that are at least four years old and carry a "risk of immunity", a scrutiny meeting heard.

Eighty of the cases predate the authority's creation in 2019, the committee was told.

Service manager Anna Lee said historical cases would be her team's focus over the next year.

The council's planning enforcement officers - the equivalent of 12 full time posts - were dealing with 900 cases, the place and resources scrutiny committee heard.

Ms Lee told councillors: "There is a risk of immunity within those cases. That won't apply to every case.

"Immunity periods for planning enforcement vary according to the nature of the breach and there are some breaches which do not have an immunity period.

"But nonetheless we do have an element of risk around those cases which are more than four years old."

She said she had requested extra money to deal with the backlog.

Ms Lee said there had been two successful prosecutions since 2021, although legal action was a last resort.

Councillor Shane Bartlett, in charge of planning, said: “The current overall caseload for the team is too high and it’s important that these backlog cases are reviewed to reduce any risk of immunity."

Councillor David Tooke, who chairs the council's eastern area planning committee, said there was a widespread view that the council did not enforce the rules.

He said: "It is important that we look at enforcement and try and get some confidence back in the general public.

"I constantly get people saying: 'There's no point to enforcement because all you do is go along with whatever they've done.'"