By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are concerns people could be getting away with unauthorised developments in the Cotswolds as there were more than 680 live planning enforcement cases last month.
Cotswold District Council chiefs are hoping to get on top of the backlog in the coming months as they bolster their planning enforcement team.
The scale of the backlog came to light at the latest full council meeting when the leader of the opposition asked if the current staffing level at the authority was enough to deliver an effective and timely service.
Conservative Councillor Tom Stowe (Campden and Vale) also asked what the number of open cases was in a written question to the meeting on March 18.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that planning enforcement has been a huge issue for several years at the council.
“Despite years of repeated warnings, it’s taken until now for the Liberal Democrats to finally realise the gravity of the situation and now it’s too little too late, the figures are only going one way.
“The numbers only show half the picture, there is a perception among residents that the service isn’t functioning effectively, with limited communication, a lack of updates, and concerns about insufficient control over unauthorised development across the district, this is deeply concerning, especially with the increased future development planned for the district.”
Housing and planning cabinet member Juliet Layton (LD, South Cerney Village) said in her response to Cllr Stowe that there were 684 live planning enforcement cases as of March 9.
She explained that 420 of these were designated as backlog having originated from December 31, 2024 or earlier.
“The team has recently been re-structured, including the creation of two additional roles, resulting in a team of six,” she said.
“Four of the six roles are currently filled following recruitment in January, including two agency staff.”
She said a further role would be filled at the end of March and that after they anticipate the final role will be filled an officer returns from long-term sickness in late March/early April.
“As such, it is hoped in the coming months the team will return to 100% staffing and will have capacity to tackle the backlog,” she said.
“It should be noted that the nature of planning enforcement means that there will always be cases outstanding as formal action may be required if matters cannot be resolved through negotiation or a new planning application.”
She also said that she will be attending a scrutiny meeting with officers in the coming months to discuss and answer questions about planning enforcement.