Planning Enforcement

Planning permission is often, but not always required for building and engineering work, and for changes in the use of land or buildings. 

Sometimes it is possible to carry out building work or to change the use of land or premises without having to apply for formal planning permission. 

However, sometimes development is carried out without planning permission when it is required, or it does not properly follow the detailed plans or comply with conditions attached to planning permissions.

When this happens, serious harm can be caused to the environment or the way that people live. Residents and businesses have a right to expect that harmful activities are dealt with effectively. In order to ensure this, a harm prioritisation system is in use. Details explaining how this works can be found in the Planning Enforcement Policy at the bottom of the page.

Find out more information about work that might not need planning permission

Some work might be in breach of planning controls.  This is work like:

• Work without planning permission (including advertisements)
• A breach of planning conditions
• Untidy land or dilapidated buildings
• Changing the use of a building or land
• Unauthorised work to listed buildings
• Work to trees
• High hedges

The planning system regulates the development and use of land in the public interest, under powers set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the council has various enforcement powers.

You can now view the enforcement register online

If you wish to report a potential breach please use the online form Planning enforcement issue - North West Leicestershire District Council (achieveservice.com) or email development.control@nwleicestershire.gov.uk or call 01530 454665

Local Enforcement Plan (Planning) 2024

At the Council's Cabinet meeting on 22 October 2024 a new Local Enforcement Plan was adopted. The new Local Enforcement Plan identifies what tools are available to the council to enforce planning matters, sets out how each planning enforcement case will be dealt with, and also provides a simple priority system for dealing with cases.

Top priority cases cases are those which are considered most harmful in planning terms and could lead to irreparable harm, including unauthorised works to a listed building and these will aim to be investigated within one working day. High priority cases include unauthorised adverts which might pose a threat to highways safety and these will aim to be investigated within three working days. Medium priority cases include deviations from planning permissions where development is not being built in accordance with the approval and these will aim to be investigated within fourteen working day. Finally low priority cases which include domestic developments will aim to be investigated within twenty eight working days.

The new Plan can be found here: Local Enforcement Plan (Planning) 2024 (Word Document, 0.19 Mb)