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10.14 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir Paul Beresford): I am grateful to my
hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge (Sir M. Shersby) for raising this particular difficulty. I understand from his description the difficulties experienced by his constituents who live anywhere near the sites. They are inevitably affected by the heavy lorry movements, the noise, dust and disturbance. It is particularly annoying for them when they believe that those activities are not within the law, as no planning permission was applied for.
My hon. Friend will know that I cannot comment on the merits of the allegedly unauthorised activities that are taking place on the sites, or on the planning enforcement action that the council is taking now or may take in the future. It is possible that the matters may be the subject of some form of appeal to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learnt. We suspect that so-called cowboys have set out to ride roughshod over the planning control regime. In 1989, the planning enforcement regime was reviewed thoroughly. That review was quickly followed up by the Government, and the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 was enacted as a result.
Authorities have a versatile and effective tool kit for dealing with the whole range of unauthorised development and I encourage local authorities-- particularly this one--to utilise that to the full. I suspect that the local authorities may be able to go a little further in certain areas.
One of the most important provisions in the 1991 Act is that enabling authorities to counter a particularly harmful breach of control. They may seek an enforcement injunction in the High Court or the county court. If the courts grant an injunction, it will be directed at named individuals, or at companies, who will be required to stop the activity involved in the alleged breach of control. An injunction can also be sought if an authority anticipates that a breach of control is about to take place. Anyone named in an injunction who does not observe its requirements will usually be in contempt of the court. Continuing contempt may result in a term of imprisonment.
To make it easier to obtain that type of injunction, a special procedure enables an authority to obtain an injunction against someone whose identity is unknown. That can assist authorities greatly if they are dealing with a fly-by-night operator who presents a false identity or who is adept at changing his or his company's name. I can remember a local authority resorting to long-range camera photography in order to nail certain individuals.
An authority may issue an enforcement notice and reinforce its effect with a stop notice. There is no right of appeal to the Secretary of State against a stop notice, so it can effectively prohibit an unauthorised activity almost immediately. The maximum summary penalty on conviction of not complying with the prohibition in the notice was increased from £2,000 to £20,000 by the 1991 Act.
We sometimes hear criticism that planning authorities are reluctant to use a stop notice because it may result in their having to pay financial compensation to the person whose activities are prohibited by the stop notice if that person succeeds in an accompanying enforcement appeal to the Secretary of State. In fact, compensation would not be payable if the enforcement appeal succeeded on the grounds that planning permission
should be granted. If the appeal succeeds on one of the other legal grounds in section 174(2) of the 1990 Act, some compensation may be payable, depending on the particular circumstances.
I believe that planning authorities do not need to fear having to pay compensation if they draft their enforcement notices correctly in relation to planning law and the facts of the alleged breach. We know that enacting planning legislation is not enough. The Government's policy and procedural guidance to planning authorities also play a part. My Department's planning policy guidance note 18, entitled "Enforcing Planning Control", emphasises that the Government do not condone any wilful breach of planning control and that they encourage vigorous enforcement action to stop or remedy unacceptable unauthorised development.
Earlier this year, consultants appointed by my Department completed a review of the effectiveness of the enforcement amendments in the 1991 Act and a copy of
their report is in the Library of the House. The consultants concluded:
That is generally reassuring. In the first instance, perhaps my hon. Friend should look to his local authority to take some of the hints and suggestions that have been made and be a little more forward in attacking the problem.
Nevertheless, my hon. Friend has related such a tale of horror that I shall look again at the matter to see whether we can learn anything from it. We shall keep the enforcement procedure under close review. I have considerable sympathy with my hon. Friend and I wish him well in his bid to rid his constituents of the difficulties that he has related to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
"This review of the use and effectiveness of the enforcement system indicates that the new and amended provisions introduced by the 1990/1991 Planning Acts are largely working well and that significant legislative change is not required".
Adjourned accordingly at nineteen minutes past Ten o'clock.
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