Disputing a Planning Enforcement Officers Decision

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Gloucestershire
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My neighbour in 2004 had planning permission to extend their single story flat roof extension on the rear of their house. Various conditions were stipulated by the council. The two relevent ones to my question are 1) the extension could not extend past the end of my house and 2) No access to the new part of the flat roof (the extended bit) was to be permitted and a metal fence was to be errected along the line of the old and new flat roof to prevent this (there were existing doors to access the original flat roof. Both conditions stated they were to preserve my privacy.

So my neighbour extended his flatroof exactly to the depth of my house in 2004. He never built the metal fence to stop access to the new part.

They have this year applied for permission to build a conservatory on the flat roof extension.
the council granted this permission and i did not object. Again with conditions. The conservatory can not be built on the new part of the extension only the original pert pre 2004. They had to change their plans to instead of having the doors opening to the rear of the flat roof, access to the post 2004 part of the flat roof, move them to the side of the conservatory and fence off the area of the post 2004 flat roof to prevent access to comply with the condition in the 2004 planning permission.

Whilst this planning permission was being granted (spring 2015) my neighbour installed a permanent metal staircase on the rear of the flat roof to access the garden. when using the stair case they can look through my kitchen windows and patio doors.

I complained to the council enforcement officer stating that the staircase was a permanent structure and needed planning permission that was not present and it broke both of the two planning conditions I stated above.

After a month I got a phone call from the enforcement officer stating that it was and illegal construction and he had told them to remove it.

Then I noticed that after a month it had been moved from close to the fence between our properties to about 6 foot away.

So I called the enforcement officer and said what had happened and the enforcement officer told me that my neighbour "Had been neighbourly in moving it." So I should accept it. Obviously I said it is not neighbourly to ignore planning permission constraints and it either has planning permission or it does not. He then said it does have planning permission. I said it does not, it can not because of the constriants. So I said prove it. He arranged to get the 2004 file from storage for me to view.

I have and there is no drawing in that file with an external staircase on. Also none of the drawings for the new conservatory have a staircase on. There is no reference in any of the files for a staircase.

So I can only conclude there is no planning permission for an external staircase. Am I correct in this because the council planning department have told me an external metal staircase would require planning permission?

Secondly the enforcement officer refuses to change his decision, I keep asking him to prove to me there is planning permission, he basically refuses saying it is in the file.

So I would like to know the best way forward to challenge this decision.

Do I write to the director of the planning department asking him for a review or request him to provide the documentary proof that there is or is not planning permission?

Do I go straight to a planning lawyer?

Also does anybody know if a planning enforcement officer can grant planning permission or can they only decide if permission is there or not i.e if this officer has written to my nieghbour saying your stairs are fine is that granting planning permission?

Thanks in advance.
 
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You cannot force the council to take enforcement action over alleged unlawful development - it is entirely at their discretion.

That said, it does seem odd that they are not prepared to act, given that they were aware of the privacy issue, and an external staircase would require p.p. if not on the original application.

Put your view in writing to the chief executive, and advise that you would consider a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Government guidance on Planning Enforcement (formerly PPG 18) states that public confidence in the planning system can only be maintained by an effective enforcement system; maybe your enforcement officer is just lazy?

PS, and no - an enforcement officer cannot arbitrarily decide that a staircase 'is OK'; as the issue of privacy has already been raised and dealt with in the previous approval, this would probably go beyond what would be acceptable as a minor amendment.
 
Well after writing to the chief exec the planning department have reviewed my complaint and decided that there was no planning permission and toldmy neighbour they have 28 days to apply for retrospective permission.

The application is in and I will complain on privacy grounds (after checking with the planning department that I have to because my complaint to enforcement may be taken into account).

2 questions

1) in the application letter the Architect has submitted two drawings in support of the staircase and stated that they are approved by a certain planning application which was approved. The issue is they are from a completely different planning application from about 20 years ago. They are not present in the planning application file they referenced in the application, I have checked. Is this legal? IS this cause to have the application thrown out.

2) Also in the application letter it states "The neighbour complained". That neighbour can only be me. When I spoke to enforcement they said my complaint would never be revealed even in the case of an FOI request. So is this case for having the application thrown out. I would imgaine that i have a case for deformation against the architect?

Thanks in advance.
 
2) Also in the application letter it states "The neighbour complained". That neighbour can only be me. When I spoke to enforcement they said my complaint would never be revealed even in the case of an FOI request. So is this case for having the application thrown out. I would imgaine that i have a case for deformation against the architect?

Thanks in advance.

They probably just assumed it was you?
 
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PS, and no - an enforcement officer cannot arbitrarily decide that a staircase 'is OK'; as the issue of privacy has already been raised and dealt with in the previous approval, this would probably go beyond what would be acceptable as a minor amendment.

But they could decide that it is a minor breach of planning and just argue that it's not expedient to act. It's a similar thing in effect.
 
1) in the application letter the Architect has submitted two drawings in support of the staircase and stated that they are approved by a certain planning application which was approved. The issue is they are from a completely different planning application from about 20 years ago. They are not present in the planning application file they referenced in the application, I have checked. Is this legal? IS this cause to have the application thrown out.

Thanks in advance.

An application from 20 years ago would have expired. Currently 3 years is the period from decision date to build date. AFter that time then technically you have to reapply.
 
They probably just assumed it was you?
But that is still defamation. You cannot in public (it is on the searchable council website) accuse somebody of something that may be untrue and be searchable in a house sale that may decrease the value.
 
As it's only a neighbor that would be aware of any transgressions, it would be reasonable for the architect to assume that that's why the council are aware of the staircase, and that it causes a privacy issue.

It's also reasonable to assume that he's moved it because in his discussions with someone in the planning department, he's then become aware that it was in a position compromising your privacy. It's also fairly reasonable to assume that it it's the enforcement officer that is being awkward to you, who has realised that he has dropped you in the proverbial sh1t, by suggesting he be reasonable and move it, hence he wants you to accept his well meaning intentions (supposedly) to make the problem go away.

But I think it's more a case of negligence on the councils part, rather than defamation, but it shouldn't show up on any searches, nor reduce the value of your property, however, it may put off some people who might purchase your house, in this respect, you need to call on a local estate agent, show them some photos, and offer them a bottle of something for a bit of advice.

I suspect that at the end of the day, the buggers going to get what he wants, and the council are going to be negligent in allowing it, simply becuase they can't be bothered to do their job properly, and I expect that the current crop of planning officers, have a different viewpoint to the one who set the stipulations 20 years ago.
 
Why should my council waste my money on what is essentially a disgruntled neighbour moaning about someone using a staircase and can possibly maybe hypothetically look through a kitchen window, FFS?

Where is the wider public interest?
 

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