Planning enforcement in Ealing
Of all London’s planning enforcement authorities, Ealing is the one we know best. Just Planning was based in the borough for many years, and we have acted in enforcement cases throughout Southall, Acton, Greenford, Northolt, Hanwell and central Ealing.
We watched Ealing develop one of the country’s most active enforcement operations at close quarters. If an enforcement notice has arrived, you are dealing with a council that has pursued unauthorised development seriously for more than a decade.
Ealing built much of its reputation through its campaign against residential outbuildings, often described as “beds in sheds”. We wrote about the campaign at the time. In just eighteen months, the council issued hundreds of Planning Contravention Notices, served well over a hundred enforcement notices and brought a series of prosecutions. It also demolished some outbuildings itself in East Acton and Southall.
The pressure has not gone away. The Planning Inspectorate decided 45 appeals against Ealing enforcement notices in the past year. Only Brent, Barnet and Cornwall produced more. Over the past five years, inspectors have decided 161 Ealing enforcement appeals.
An enforcement notice is the council’s formal allegation that something has been built, used or changed without the required planning permission. It will also say what must be done to remedy the alleged breach.
The council’s decision is not necessarily the last word. An independent inspector can overturn or alter the notice, and its requirements are normally suspended while an appeal is being decided.
The immediate danger is the deadline. An appeal must reach the Planning Inspectorate before the date on which the notice takes effect. That date is printed on the notice and often falls about 28 days after it was issued. There are no extensions and late appeals cannot be accepted.
Check the dates first. Then send us the notice. We will review it free of charge, explain the available options and quote a fixed fee for any work you would like us to undertake.
How Ealing handles enforcement cases
Many investigations begin with a complaint, often from a neighbour. Ealing also conducts its own investigations. During its outbuilding campaign, the council reportedly used aerial photography to identify thousands of potentially unauthorised buildings.
The first contact may be a letter or a visit from an enforcement officer. You may also receive a Planning Contravention Notice, usually called a PCN.
A PCN is a formal questionnaire about the property. It normally gives you 21 days to respond, and the answers can become evidence in any subsequent enforcement action. It should therefore be treated seriously.
If the council concludes that a breach has occurred and that formal action is worth pursuing, it may issue an enforcement notice. That notice can be challenged on seven statutory grounds of appeal. Choosing the right grounds, and obtaining the evidence needed to support them, is critical.
Where Ealing’s enforcement cases arise
Enforcement cases come from every part of Ealing, but the pattern varies across the borough.
Southall. Residential outbuildings remain a longstanding concern. Unauthorised flat conversions and HMOs are also common.
The rules on HMOs have recently tightened. Article 4 directions now cover the borough, so changing a family dwelling into even a small HMO requires planning permission.
Northolt and Greenford. The recent appeal lists contain many paired cases involving both a house and its outbuilding. The council may take action against a change of use in the main house while also challenging the construction or residential use of a building in the garden.
Acton, Hanwell and West Ealing. These areas produce a steady flow of cases involving extensions, flat conversions and deviations from approved plans.
Central Ealing. Conservation-area restrictions can catch owners who assumed that the usual permitted development rulesapplied. Some conservation areas have additional controls removing rights that would normally be available to householders.
What success can mean in Ealing
Success at appeal does not always mean that the whole notice disappears. In Ealing, it often means reducing what the council requires or securing more time to comply.
In around four appeals out of ten, the inspector changes the notice in some way. The requirements may be reduced because they go further than is necessary, or the compliance period may be extended because the council has allowed too little time.
Complete cancellation of an Ealing notice is less common. The council generally drafts its notices competently, and its conclusions often survive scrutiny. But inspectors do sometimes quash notices or grant planning permission, including in a recent Southall case.
Our own Ealing cases illustrate the different forms a successful outcome can take.
Church Road: the notice withdrawn
At 346 Church Road in Northolt, Ealing served a notice against an outbuilding that had been used as a separate home.
We assembled evidence showing that the use had continued for long enough to be immune from enforcement under the rules that applied at the time. We sent that evidence to the council and persuaded it to withdraw the notice.
There was no need to proceed to appeal. The case ended with the outbuilding still standing.
Dukes Avenue: the building saved
At 6 Dukes Avenue in Northolt, the council required an unauthorised residential use to stop. It also demanded the demolition of the outbuilding itself.
Those were two different matters. Even if the separate residential use had to cease, it did not follow that the entire building had to be removed.
The inspector agreed and deleted the demolition requirement. Our client could no longer use the outbuilding as a separate home, but the building remained in place and could be used lawfully as part of the main property.
Primrose Way: excessive requirements removed
The notice at 8 Primrose Way went further still. Ealing required the outbuilding to be demolished and its kitchen and bathroom removed.
Again, the inspector concluded that these requirements were excessive. The unauthorised residential use had to stop, but the building itself could remain.
These cases were won under ground (f), which asks whether the notice requires more work than is necessary to remedy the breach. In Ealing, this is frequently one of the most important grounds to consider.
Alternatives to an enforcement appeal
An appeal is not always the best answer. The right strategy depends on what has happened at the property, when it happened and what evidence is available.
Development can become immune from enforcement through the passage of time. However, the relevant period depends on the type and date of the breach.
Operational development substantially completed before 25 April 2024 may still benefit from the former four-year time limit. The same transitional rule can apply to a change of use to a single dwellinghouse that began before that date. For equivalent breaches arising on or after 25 April 2024, the period is ten years. Other material changes of use are generally subject to a ten-year period.
An outbuilding may therefore involve two separate questions. The first is when the building itself was substantially completed. The second is when any unauthorised use began and whether that use continued for the required period. Different evidence may be needed for each.
A certificate of lawfulness can confirm that a building or use has become lawful. We have obtained certificates from Ealing for unauthorised roof extensions, including rear dormers at a house in Hanwell that were shown to be lawful because of their age.
HMOs established before the relevant Article 4 direction took effect may also be lawful, provided the necessary facts can be proved. Applying for a certificate while the evidence is still available can prevent a dispute later.
In other cases, a retrospective planning application or a negotiated solution may produce a better result than an appeal. The important thing is to identify the right route early. In our experience, Ealing can move quickly from its initial enquiries to formal action.
What to do now
First, check three dates on the notice:
- the date it was issued;
- the date it takes effect;
- the deadline for compliance.
The appeal must be submitted before the notice takes effect.
Do not ignore the notice. Ealing prosecutes owners who fail to comply, and it has previously demolished unauthorised buildings itself and recovered the cost from their owners.
Gather everything that may establish the history of the property. This might include planning permissions, drawings, dated photographs, tenancy agreements, utility bills and building invoices. Cases involving immunity or certificates of lawfulness are often decided by the quality of this evidence.
Take advice before answering a Planning Contravention Notice or making detailed representations to the council. Information provided during the investigation may later be used to support formal enforcement action.
How we can help
Just Planning specialises in enforcement notices. Our team includes chartered town planners and former council officers, and we act in enforcement cases across London.
Our connection with Ealing is particularly strong. We were based in the borough for many years and have handled cases involving outbuildings, residential conversions, HMOs, extensions and breaches of approved plans.
We understand how Ealing investigates alleged breaches, how its notices are drafted and when inspectors are likely to reduce what the council requires. We can also identify cases in which a certificate of lawfulness, retrospective application or negotiated solution is more effective than an appeal.
Where a substantial case requires a hearing or input from a legal team, we can manage that process as well.
If you have received an enforcement notice, Planning Contravention Notice or enforcement letter from Ealing Council, send it to us today. We will review it free of charge, give you a clear assessment of the best route and quote a fixed fee for the work.
The sooner we receive the notice, the more time we will have to examine the evidence and prepare the right response.
