District planning authorities in England issue fewest number of enforcement notices since records began

District planning authorities in England issued fewer than 3,000 enforcement notices in the year to March 2021, government data has revealed.

The 2,996 enforcement notices issued was down from 3,933 in 2019/20 and from a high of 5,797 in 2005/06.

Planning authorities also served:

• 104 stop notices, the same as in 2019/20
• 200 temporary stop notices, down from 205 in 2019/20
• 566 breach of condition notices, down from 754 in 2019/20 and the fewest since the records began in 1996/97.
• 3,502 planning contravention notices, down from 4,163 in 2019/20 and also the fewest on record.

The data also showed that 49 enforcement injunctions were granted by the High Court or County Court in 2020/21, up from 36 the previous year. Nine enforcement injunctions were refused during the year, down from 11 in 2019/20.