Planning enforcement in Bromley
Planning enforcement notices and appealing in Bromley If you have received a planning enforcement notice from Bromley Council, or a letter or visit from a planning enforcement officer, you should take advice quickly. A planning enforcement notice is a serious legal document. It can require you to remove works, stop a use, demolish a structure […]
Planning enforcement in London: why the capital leads the country
Planning enforcement is far more active in London than anywhere else in England. Of the country’s fifty busiest enforcement authorities, around a third are London boroughs — despite London accounting for only one in ten councils nationally. The Planning Inspectorate decided more enforcement appeals against Brent in the year to March 2026 than against any […]
How Croydon went from one enforcement notice a year to nineteen
Between 2020 and 2022, Croydon Council served roughly one planning enforcement notice a year. In a single year after Executive Mayor Jason Perry took office in 2022, it served nineteen. The Planning Inspectorate has since decided fourteen enforcement appeals against Croydon in the year to March 2026. Compared to Brent or Barnet, those numbers are […]
Planning enforcement in Barnet: inside one of England’s busiest councils
If you have received an enforcement notice from Barnet, or a letter from one of the council’s planning enforcement officers, the first thing to know is that Barnet takes enforcement seriously. The borough has been in the top three English local planning authorities for enforcement notices issued for several years running, and in the year […]
HMO enforcement in Brent: A guide for landlords
If you have received an enforcement notice from Brent in relation to a House in Multiple Occupation, or if a planning enforcement officer has been in touch about your property, you have a serious problem that needs handling carefully. Brent runs the most active planning enforcement service in the country and HMOs are at the […]
Article 4 directions in Brent: what HMO landlords and developers need to know
If you are planning to convert a property in Brent to a small HMO — letting it to between three and six unrelated occupants sharing facilities — you almost certainly need planning permission first. The borough’s Article 4 direction has been in force since 1 November 2022 and removes the permitted development right to make […]
Planning enforcement in Brent: inside England’s most active council
Brent is the country’s most active enforcement authority If you have received an enforcement notice from Brent, the first thing to understand is that Brent is not a typical authority. It describes itself as “the leading local authority for planning enforcement in the entire country”, and serves more enforcement notices each than almost any other […]
Planning enforcement in Barking and Dagenham
If you have received a planning enforcement notice from Barking and Dagenham, or a letter from a planning enforcement officer at Be First, you have a problem that needs handling properly and quickly. It is one of the most active enforcement authorities in London, with a planning team that has been deliberately rebuilt over recent […]
More planning appellants should now be asking for hearings
The three appeal procedures If you appeal a refusal of planning permission, there are three possible procedures: written representations, a hearing and an inquiry. You can say on the appeal form which procedure you think is appropriate, but the decision is not yours; it is the appeal inspector who decides. Except for more complicated cases, […]
What is a fallback position in planning?
What is a fallback position in planning? A fallback position is something you could do if your current planning application or appeal fails. It might be an existing planning permission. It might be a smaller extension you could build under permitted development. It might be a use of land or a building that has become […]