Planning concerns due to staff shortages at Devon council

Councillors were told planning applications could not be refused because of too few planning enforcement officers

Just one enforcement worker exists to deal with 300 planning breaches, Mid Devon District Council has heard.

Councillors argued that applying conditions to planning applications could become "self-defeating" due to enforcement staff shortages.

However, a council spokesperson said the planning enforcement service "consistently runs with a case load of around 300 cases".

The matter was raised at a recent district council planning meeting.

Councillor Rachel Gilmour expressed concern over the issue of imposing planning conditions in the future.

"We have one enforcement officer who is inundated with problems," she said.

"So is it a good idea to cause problems for ourselves when we can't enforce what we need to?"

A council officer at the meeting highlighted that an application could not be refused because of too few planning enforcement officers, if it met other planning requirements, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A council spokesperson added the issue was not confined to Mid Devon District Council.

"It is extremely difficult to recruit planning enforcement specialists and this issue is also experienced amongst other planning authorities - both locally and in the wider region," they said.