Cheshire East Council bosses have pledged to tackle developers who breach conditions set down as part of planning permission.
Approval for new housing and other buildings is often granted ‘subject to conditions’, ranging from colour of materials, technical matters involving contaminated land and drainage, and even times and days when construction work is permitted.
Cllr Toni Fox, the authority’s cabinet member for planning, said tough enforcement action will be taken if developers flout agreements and treat planning conditions “as a tick-box exercise”.
Cheshire East remains one of the busiest planning authorities in the country and receives a large number of housing applications.
But bosses say developers are increasingly not allowing sufficient time for necessary conditions to be carried out properly and that some developments are continuing without the necessary permissions.
Cllr Fox said: “Since becoming the portfolio holder for planning in May, I have been contacted on numerous occasions by residents about developments starting before all the details have been agreed.
“Officers work hard on getting the detail on conditions discharged but all too often they face an uphill battle as developers continue to build.
“This has led to enforcement action and increasing disillusion among residents and our communities, who are coming to feel that the planning conditions imposed by the council are being disregarded by developers and are becoming tick-box exercises that mean little.
“The council wishes to work collaboratively with developers but it has to be within the bounds of the statutory processes. If not, then the system as a whole becomes undermined and trust from residents lost.
“I am, therefore, working with the council’s acting head of planning to ensure the appropriate priority is given to the discharge of conditions and openly advising developers that, if they do not get their appropriate permissions in place, then the council will seek to use its enforcement powers to stop construction.”
Residents with concerns over current developments can find out more and contact planning at Cheshire East here https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/planning/planning_enforcement/planning_enforcement.aspx
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