The Team Leader (Planning Investigations) introduced the report and asked for Members’ comments on the updated draft Planning Enforcement Strategy following the eight-week public consultation process between February and April 2024.

The Chair invited Members to make comments which included:

·         Page 15, needed to be changed so that all Members were consulted when officers make a decision on whether to take enforcement action under the current scheme of delegations;

·         paragraph 3.1 referred to the online reporting form being the ‘easiest’ way to report enforcement breaches, but residents often struggled to complete the form, so the wording needed to be changed to ‘quickest’ or ‘best’;

·         suggested the wording be changed to ‘best’ to emphasise that it was not the easiest, but best way for members of the public to ensure the breach had been reported;

·         what was the situation with out-of-office hours working?;

·         were officers expected to work out of normal working hours when required?;

·         what enforcement breaches required police intervention?;

·         why were unauthorised encampments not category one?;

·         understood that not all reports of planning breaches were published online, but hoped that this could be looked at in the future;

·         the document needed to clarify what types of breaches would be reported online so that the public and parish town councils knew what to expect on the portal; and

·         needed to be clear about what type of fly tipping was the responsibility of Swale Borough Council and what was the responsibility of the Environment Agency as it was often confusing for parish/town councils as well as Ward Members.

The Team Leader (Planning Investigations) responded explaining that as well as the online reporting tool, an email address could be added to the website so that residents could email directly any enforcement breaches if they struggled to complete the online reporting tool. He added that a three-day response time for unauthorised encampments was what had been agreed but officers could review the response times before the report came back to the Policy and Resources Committee.

With regards to the out-of-office expectation of officers, the Head of Place explained that once an enforcement case had been reported, the strategy would be applied. The course of action might require the officer to work outside of normal working hours to deal with the breach.

With regards to the enforcement breaches which would require police action, the Team Leader (Planning Investigations) said that the police would only be called upon if there was a risk to investigating officers and a potential breach of the peace, and the investigation lay with the Council and not the police.

The Team Leader (Planning Investigations) agreed to take into consideration Members’ comments on the strategy and to update the document before it was considered at the next Policy and Resources Committee.

Councillor Mike Baldock moved the recommendation, which was seconded by Councillor Tony Winckless.

Recommended:

(1)   That the draft Swale Planning Enforcement Strategy be updated as per the proposed changes as minuted and it be recommended to the Policy and Resources Committee for adoption.