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SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 14, 2024

QUESTION NO.22

QUESTION: Councillor L. de Courcy

To ask the Chief Executive what steps are in place to enforce planning refusals when they are not adhered too?

REPLY:

The legislative process relating to planning enforcement is set out in the Planning and Development Act 2000. 

Any development that requires planning permission but has not been granted permission  is classed as ‘unauthorised development’. Carrying out unauthorised development is an offence and anyone who has undertaken unauthorised development may be subject to enforcement proceedings.

When a planning authority receives a complaint, it will generally carry out an initial analysis to consider the matter, and following this the planning authority may
initiate an investigation.

Where an enforcement complaint is found to be valid, the planning authority may issue a warning letter.

A warning letter informs the person concerned that the planning authority is aware that they may be carrying out unauthorised development. The person  concerned is given a four-week period to reply to the warning letter.
Where a warning letter has been issued, the planning authority must carry out an investigation into the alleged unauthorised development. If the planning authority determines that unauthorised development has taken place, it must also determine whether the requirements of the warning letter have been met before taking further action.
Where the planning authority establishes, following an investigation, that unauthorised development which is not trivial or minor is being carried out, and that the person carrying out the development has not remedied the situation (e.g. by removing the offending development or by securing planning permission) the planning authority must take further action. According to planning law, the planning authority needs a compelling reason for taking no further action in such a case.
Further action will normally take the form of an enforcement notice requiring the person concerned to rectify the situation. The planning authority should, where possible, make its decision on further action within 12 weeks of sending the warning letter. 

In circumstances where the planning authority believes urgent action is required, it may issue an enforcement notice without issuing a warning letter. 

An enforcement notice will normally:
• instruct that any development being carried out without planning permission must stop;

• instruct that if the development has planning permission but work is not being carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permission, that steps have to be taken to ensure the development is in line with the planning permission;

• inform what steps are required to be taken within a specified period. These could include removing, or altering a structure, stopping the use of land, or returning
land to its previous condition before the unauthorised development began; and

• outline that if these steps are not taken within the period stated, that the person may be guilty of an offence and that the planning authority may enter the land and do the work itself. The owner or developer will have to pay the cost of this work. The owner or developer may also have to pay other related expenses such as legal costs. 

Where an enforcement notice is not complied with, the planning authority can take the matter to court. Penalties for breaching planning law are set out in the
Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. These penalties depend on the nature of the offence but, penalties can include a criminal conviction and a fine
and/or a prison sentence.