Nine in ten councils report backlog in planning enforcement cases amid 43% drop in spending on planning as a whole

A £364m reduction in yearly local authority spending on planning has led to "major challenges in resourcing, skills and performance" for planning authorities, new research has revealed.

The research carried out by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) also found that almost 90% of local authorities are experiencing a backlog of planning enforcement cases.

Many of the challenges appear to stem from poor funding, the research suggests. The survey found that there has been a 43% decrease in net expenditure from local authorities on planning as a whole, from £844m in 2009/10 to £480m in 2020/21.

Seventy per cent of local authorities surveyed reported difficulties recruiting enforcement officers in the last five years, while 80% of respondents reported that there were too few officers to carry out the workload.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents added that delays from the Planning Inspectorate are negatively impacting the service.

Under the pressures, compliance has suffered considerably, with just 46% of those surveyed reporting that their local authority has the capacity to monitor compliance following successful enforcement action.

The RTPI added that current difficulties with running the enforcement service "also have implications where Government is considering adding new burdens such as the incoming policy of Biodiversity Net Gain".

Almost all of those surveyed (96%) said they would benefit from more funding in the form of a central government pot that they could use to fund direct action.

In light of the research, RTPI brought into question the efficacy of new enforcement powers in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, such as time limits, temporary stop notices, and development progress reports to help councils deal with breaches.

RTPI said its findings suggest the impact of these powers "would be limited without sufficient capacity to hold people who commit breaches of planning control to account".

Commenting on the findings, Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the RTPI, said: "Enforcement officers are the custodians of the planning system, they are the un-sung heroes of the planning world, protecting the public and the environment from people who commit breaches of planning control, flout planning laws, and deliver ill-planned and ill-designed developments."

Hills added: "But enforcement officers that we've spoken to describe a system falling apart, where unmanageable workloads and insufficient staff has left most councils unable to meet public demand. Struggling to meet even a proportion of the complaints generated by the public, councils are having to put proactive action on the back burner."

Izindi Visagie, National Association of Planning Enforcement (NAPE) committee member and partner at law firm Ivy Legal, said: "The job of a planning enforcement officer is tougher than ever before. You upset either a planning offender or a complainant, and often both. Throw in a shortage of resources, training and talent pool and add in court delays and appeal delays, and it's no surprise planning enforcement officers are low in supply and morale.

"When the failure of planning enforcement means failure of the planning system as a whole, people need to sit up and take notice of this report."

Adam Carey