Asking council for explaination for why enforcement has taken so long

rabbituk

I have been dealing with a North Wales council planning enforcement team for the last 4 years. My neighbour owns a separate plot of land that is behind our plot and he has  placed a shipping container on that plot of land without planning permission. This same neighbour has been burning waste on the plot of land (was fined by North Wales fire service) and I've been told he is spilling chemicals on the land. It will be clear that he has a devil may care attitude and myself the other neighbours are not happy about his use of the land.

It is my understanding and the council have agreed with my point via a letter that planning permission is required for building/sheds/containers on plots of land where there is no house because it is not within the 'curtilage'. The initial enforcement officer I dealt with left the team and the subsequent members have constantly said that they are short staffed and will get round to look at the issue. This has been going for over 4 years and it feels very unfair. I have emailed them to ask for an explanation as to what is going on and I get no response. I have been polite in all my communications but this lack of response is a frustrating to deal with.

Am I legally entitled for the council to enforce this or are they allowed to constantly deprioritise this issue due to staffing/covid etc. Also, am I entitled to an explanation of what they have been doing for these last 4 years? I am not Welsh and this feels very much like xenophobia. This neighbour is well connected and his father was a rumored to be mason when he was alive.

Ectophile

Stop asking. Make a formal complaint to your council.  Find out what their complaints procedure is.

If you are not happy with their response, you can complain to https://www.ombudsman.wales/

Okell

Have you spoken to your local councillor(s)?

Have you used the council's official complaints procedure?

Then try the Local Government Ombudsman:  Home - Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Hoenir

rabbituk said:

 Also, am I entitled to an explanation of what they have been doing for these last 4 years?

Easy to underestimate the impact Covid had and the enormous backlog of work that it created. Not as if people go back to work and everything magically disappears overnight. As there's not additional resource that can be tapped into. Legal proceedings likewise are drawn out and protracted. 

rabbituk

I spoke with the local councillor back in June after emailing them earlier that month without a response. They had spoken with planning enforcement and my neighbour was apparently going to move it and the councillor was going to contact me when they had something more concrete but I've heard nothing since. I have contacted them last week via phone and they have  again promised to update me this week but I'm not hopeful that they will.

rabbituk

Hoenir said:

rabbituk said:

 Also, am I entitled to an explanation of what they have been doing for these last 4 years?

Easy to underestimate the impact Covid had and the enormous backlog of work that it created. Not as if people go back to work and everything magically disappears overnight. As there's not additional resource that can be tapped into. Legal proceedings likewise are drawn out and protracted. 

Even so, there has to be a point where it is an unreasonable delay. Am I in the minority to think that 4 years for this relatively simple matter is unreasonable?

FlorayG

Similar happened to someone near me. Council kept sending letters saying 'remove that' and the  offender ignored them. Then they sent a letter saying 'remove it or the council will and you will have a huge bill' and he ignored that, too. Our council has zero spare money to chase stuff like this and 12 years on the structure is still there

eskbanker

rabbituk said:

Am I legally entitled for the council to enforce this or are they allowed to constantly deprioritise this issue due to staffing/covid etc. Also, am I entitled to an explanation of what they have been doing for these last 4 years? I am not Welsh and this feels very much like xenophobia. This neighbour is well connected and his father was a rumored to be mason when he was alive.

It's not unreasonable to complain to try to provoke some action, but no, you're not entitled to an explanation as such, and introducing irrelevant and speculative topics such as nationality and freemasonry would be more likely to detract from, rather than adding to, the strength of your complaint....

Bigphil1474

I doubt it will ever be a council priority - you are one person, throw a couple of other neighbours in maybe, and you have 3 people affected by an issue that may cost the council £thousands, but is the container actually doing any harm? They'll have better things to spend their money on. I work for a council and I started a case 2 years before covid and it only concluded 6 years later. Sometimes things happen. Your council also probably has lost all the experienced staff as well as reduced numbers of people doing the job. Thank the Tories.

rabbituk

The container is used for his small business. Arguably the fire that  he was fined for and the chemical dumping would not have occurred had the container not been there. I know that I have no right to a view but it affects my enjoyment considerably as I was once able to look out at the valley from the back but now my entire back wall is occupied by this shipping container.

I unfortunately technically own a different property in a different area of the country and it is grade II listed. The tenant who lives there decided to paint the outside fenestration black without my consent or knowledge - it was previously white. The council issued me with a court summons within 9 months of that happening and I was facing fines of £100 per day whilst it wasn't fixed. Thankfully after a couple of paint attempts, the tenant gave up undoing my repair attempts and the council dropped the litigation. So I know that councils can act very fast if they want to.

lincroft1710

rabbituk said:

I unfortunately technically own a different property in a different area of the country and it is grade II listed. The tenant who lives there decided to paint the outside fenestration black without my consent or knowledge - it was previously white. The council issued me with a court summons within 9 months of that happening and I was facing fines of £100 per day whilst it wasn't fixed. Thankfully after a couple of paint attempts, the tenant gave up undoing my repair attempts and the council dropped the litigation. So I know that councils can act very fast if they want to.

1. Different council

2. Different council department


Listed Building Officers are renowned for their pro--active approach when naughties are done to a Listed Building