Alleged planning breaches reported in the last 10 years
Case reference FOI2024/01814
Received 29 October 2024
Published 28 November 2024
Request
1) In the last 10 years, and split by year, how many alleged planning breaches have been reported by:
a) members of the public?
b) and how many planning breaches have separately been reported by planning authority staff?
2) By year, and split between reports from the public and reports from planning authority staff, how many were investigated?
3) By year, and split between reports from the public and reports from planning authority staff, in how many cases did the planning authority take enforcement action?
4) In a previous disclosure, the planning authority confirmed that its total annual budget for planning enforcement work comprised "Only staff salary within wider Development Management team; there is no dedicated budget for direct action/legal fees, etc.".
a) In circumstances where the planning authority wishes to take action, how is that action funded?
b) Is a lack of dedicated funding effectively preventing the planning authority from fulfilling its enforcement responsibilities?
CLARIFICATION: My request refers to planning enforcement action outcomes e.g. enforcement notice, requirement to submit a planning application etc.
Response
1) In the last 10 years, and split by year, how many alleged planning breaches have been reported by:
a) members of the public?
b) and how many planning breaches have separately been reported by planning authority staff?
2) By year, and split between reports from the public and reports from planning authority staff, how many were investigated?
3) By year, and split between reports from the public and reports from planning authority staff, in how many cases did the planning authority take enforcement action?
4) In a previous disclosure, the planning authority confirmed that its total annual budget for planning enforcement work comprised "Only staff salary within wider Development Management team; there is no dedicated budget for direct action/legal fees, etc.".
a) In circumstances where the planning authority wishes to take action, how is that action funded?
b) Is a lack of dedicated funding effectively preventing the planning authority from fulfilling its enforcement responsibilities?
CLARIFICATION: My request refers to planning enforcement action outcomes e.g. enforcement notice, requirement to submit a planning application etc.
Answer: This information is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Our electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested, officers would need to manually check individual files for this information. An initial search has shown that 6,000 files would need to be checked for this information, and it is estimated that it would take 5 minutes to check each file. Once the details had been identified this would need to be noted and once all files had been checked in this way, the total figures requested could be calculated.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 500 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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