COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN / PALMERSTOWN / NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

QUESTION NO.14

QUESTION: Councillor V. Casserly

To ask the manager to provide information on duration of time it takes for planning enforcement to investigate queries once submitted

 REPLY:

 On receipt of a written complaint, where it would appear to the Council that unauthorised development may have been, is being or may be carried out, the Council must issue a warning letter to the owner or person carrying out the alleged unauthorised development, unless the development in question is considered of a trivial or minor nature, or the Council considers that the complaint is without substance.

The warning letter, referred to as a Section 152 notice, must issue within 6 weeks of receipt of the written complaint being made and must: 

• state that an unauthorised development may have been, or is being, carried out.
• state that the person has 4 weeks to make a submission to the planning authority on the allegations.
• state that if the authority forms the view that the development is unauthorised, an enforcement notice (see below) may issue.
• state that the authority’s officials may enter the land for the purposes of inspection.
• explain the potential penalties involved; and
• explain that a court action may be taken to recover costs incurred by the authority.

 Once the letter has issued, the Council investigates the matter with a view to deciding whether further action is required. This decision must be taken as expeditiously as possible, although there is a statutory objective to decide this within 12 weeks of the warning letter issuing.

In making the decision, the Council must take into account the original written complaint received and any representations / submissions from the person who was served with the warning notice.

Where the Council establishes, having carried out an investigation that unauthorised development is being carried out which is not trivial or minor, and the person carrying out the development does not move to remedy the situation (e.g., by removing the offending development or by applying for and being granted planning permission) the Council must take further action.  

The Council's decision, and the reasons for it, must be entered on the planning register, which is available for viewing in all planning authority offices.

Where the Council decides not to pursue enforcement action it has two further weeks to notify the complainant and anyone else who had been earlier notified of the original warning letter issuing.

Timescale for Warning Letter Process

Action	Timescale
Written complaint received by planning authority	Start
Warning letter issued	Within 6 weeks
Response from alleged unauthorised developer	Within a further 4 weeks
Local authority to carry out investigation and decide whether further action is required	Within 12 weeks of issuing the warning letter
Local Authority reply to complainant	Within a further 2 weeks (i.e., within 2 weeks of making its decision)

Once a planning authority has decided to pursue enforcement action, an Enforcement Notice, See Section 154 of the Planning & Development Act 2000, as amended,  is served on:

• the person carrying out the development; and (if necessary) the landowner.
• the person occupying the land (if they are not the owner); and any other person concerned.
• Notification of the issuing of the enforcement notice is also sent to the original complainant and anyone else concerned, although failure to do this will not affect the validity of the enforcement notice. In the meantime, if the authority becomes aware that other people may also be responsible for the unauthorised development it can serve notice on them also, extending the deadline for compliance as appropriate.
• An enforcement notice is effective from the date it is served, and it states the following:
• where the development is being carried out without planning permission, that it must cease.
• where the development has planning permission but is not being carried out in accordance with it, that it must fully comply with the permission concerned.
• that certain steps are to be taken within a specified period, including the removal, demolition, or alteration of any structure; the discontinuance of any use of land; or the restoration of the land to its previous state before the unauthorised development began.
• that where these steps are not taken within the period stated, the person will be guilty of an offence and that the planning authority may enter the land and do the work itself with the cost being recoverable from the person.
• that other costs involved with taking the enforcement action can be recovered from the person by the authority, e.g., investigation, employee and consultant costs.

The carrying out of any works for restoration, etc. on foot of an enforcement notice or court order (see below) does not need planning permission, given that failure to do this would place the person in breach of planning law.

The following general points about enforcement notices also apply: 

• all details of enforcement notices are entered on the planning register and listed in the Local Authority’s annual report.
• an enforcement notice has effect for 10 years from the date of its serving.
• in addition to the offences described above, it is also an offence to assist or permit the failure of someone to comply with an enforcement notice.

It is desirable that planning enforcement matters be resolved without recourse to legal intervention.   

However, there are cases where, instead of issuing an enforcement notice (or subsequent to issuing an enforcement notice, in the event the notice is not complied with) the Council may, where an unauthorised development is being, or is about to be, undertaken, can also apply to the Circuit or High Court for an injunction preventing it.

Notwithstanding the above, due to resources required, it is not always possible to deal with complaints of alleged planning enforcement within the prescribed timeframe, and often cases are prioritised as necessary. 

At present there are 550 open / live enforcement files of varying dates to hand, for which it is not possible to put timeframes for closure.