Introduction and context
1.1 This Direct Action Guide supplements the information published in the adopted Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s ‘Planning Enforcement Plan’. It has been prepared having regard to the Council’s corporate policies and plans, and relevant planning policy and guidance. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states:
“Effective enforcement is important as a means of maintaining public confidence in the planning system. Enforcement action is discretionary, and local planning authorities should act proportionately”.
1.2 The Council has at its disposal a range of planning enforcement powers to ensure effective enforcement, including the power to take Direct Action.
1.3 Direct Action empowers the Council to take action in default to secure compliance with outstanding requirements of a planning enforcement notice. Where an owner or occupier of land has failed to comply with the requirements of a planning enforcement notice within the period for compliance specified in the notice, Section 178 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) grants the Council additional powers to:
- enter the land and take the steps to satisfy the requirements of the notice; and;
- recover from the person who is the owner of the land any expenses reasonably incurred by them doing so.
1.4 In light of the social, physical and financial issues surrounding the use of Direct Action, this guide serves to provide details of the procedure/considerations for undertaking such action and the process by which the Council will recover costs of this action.