Enforcement support in 2010 - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Lets be a little controversial on this ? A few things need to happen to make enforcement more effective : 1) DCLG need to deliver realistic powers rather than the somewhat ‘limp’ and ‘useless’ attempts to deal with the planning breaches and its consequences i.e ODPM Circ 01/06 the grand TSN failure. (we all have heard the excuses that you cannot ‘criminalise’ the planning system as fences 6cms over the high limit will make owners into criminals, however the expediency factor and that Enforcement Officers generally do have common sense usually will stop excesses of a criminal system – you can get a criminal record for bringing 200 cigarettes over your limit into the UK, expediency, discretion and alternatives do already work in criminal law !) 2) DCLG when offered the ‘buy in’ of new powers like the Macory Review outcomes should consult with the enforcement profession rather than dismiss ‘out of hand’ the use of FPN and such like 3) The DCLG legislators should have to undertake six month secondments to work in enforcement teams – ‘at the coal face’ 4) Enforcement should be mandatory provision upon LPA’s as should the use of higher retrospective fees (discretionary and variable) 5) Finally and just as controversial (and as the ex-chair of NAPE once wrote) Enforcement should be funded and report to a body other than the organisation it is currently employed by as it is difficult to serve enforcement notices upon your employer ! PS: Pay us the same as planner (or more) I am sick of hearing ‘well traditionally enforcement have always been paid less’ ........

Quote 'Enforcement came up (again) as something that we should be doing more about.' If Enforcement is not given decent backup/powers, then the entire planning process is one very large waste of time............. Perhaps the powers that be would like to try approaching the problem from the opposite direction? Look at the actual enforceability of the regulation/condition before applying it!! (please)

Just to keep you up to date ... I'm going to the next NAPE committee to see if I can make any headway in my understanding of what PAS might usefully do. We're also talking to LACORS about regulatory services more generally. We're also (as part of our MEPS project) talking to several local authorities about what "compliance & delivery" looks and feels like in a development management service.

I think that in the wave of drastically reduced public spending following the election some enforcement teams may be subject to amputations rather than cuts, particulalry as we are not a statutory function. I think in these times it is even more important to trumpet very loudly the importance of our work to the planning system and ensure this is not just heard but also listened to at the highest levels, and within local as well as national goverment.

To quote from Richard from ‘PAS’ who mentions about “talking to several local authorities about what "compliance & delivery" looks and feels like in a development management service” Well, DM seems to many as an easy option for managers to ignore or step around the need for enforcement. Talking to other enforcement officers this is a growing DM theme. Comments like ‘ Oh its only a condition, just ignore it’ (why put it on in the first place and monitor it ?) or ‘the legislation is only a guide’ seems to undermining the enforcement function within DM. The DM approach is indeed more customer orientated but when this reaches the level of ‘the customer is always right approach – even when they are an offender seems to be sending out the wrong message and again undermines the enforcement ‘threat’ to a level it is becoming a joke within some LPA’s Dont get me wrong, good customer service is required from what ever area of planning, but when you become scared of being assertive and telling an offered that they are wrong..... 'it not the DM way' ...then are you doing your job and delivering good customer service I agree with many Enforcement Officers in LPA’s that DM has not benefited Enforcement as when managers who have never undertook the enforcement function (which is a majority) simply see Enforcement as an unfortunate additional problem that hinders good customer care and generates negative customer (offender) comments which is within DM the ‘unholy of unholys’ Enforcement needs to closely work with DC – sorry DM officers, but also needs to be able to function in a professional and consistent way, this I suggest can only be brought about by a degree of separation, to underpin the impartial and consistent operational implementation of enforcement policy and legislation – unhindered from the DM inconsistencies, which can and do give rise to unequal treatment. Enforcement needs to be mandatory Enforcement needs managers who know and have experience in enforcement delivery Enforcement needs criminalisation Enforcement needs a champion – which it lacks even with the RTPI and NAPE, as most enforcement officer an not a member of either. Cheers