How Effective is Planning Enforcement? Meeting Record & Video
Last week we held a well-attended talk on the subject of Planning Enforcement, chaired by Brian Keane of PE&T, which we recorded.
Our two guest speakers were both subject matter experts, each with decades of experience: Roald Piper of Westminster, and Tim Rolt of Brent both managing their respective council’s enforcement teams. The thoroughly engaged audience enjoyed the often amusing anecdotes, and posed incisive questions in Q&A sessions following each speaker – included in the recording.
Using a transcript, we’ve created a 1000 word summary record of the meeting [more…]
Garden Annexe, Caravan, or Mobile Home?
Tim Catchpole of the Mortlake and East Sheen Society writes…
Our Society has had a recent experience which we would like to share with other London Forum members who may or may not have had a similar experience.
As a rule we do not normally make comments on planning applications for any development that is not visible from the public realm. However, the application in question was for planning permission for the ‘construction of a granny annex ancillary to the main house.’ We were not going to [more…]
How Effective is Planning Enforcement?
How can we make it work better?
Planning enforcement is important. Unless it’s done effectively, the integrity of the whole planning system is put at risk. But it’s one of the most frustrating issues for civic societies and local community groups.
Cases typically include:
- Large developments that grossly fail to meet planning conditions or even submitted drawings and plans;
- Illegal demolitions;
- Unauthorised residential alterations and extensions;
- Additional floors built on top of blocks of flats;
- Illegal tree felling;
- and many others
They can all have significant impacts on individuals and local communities.
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) [more…]
Planning for Telecoms Masts
Most of us now carry smart phones around with us all the time: they have become an essential part of modern life. For most of the time when we are out and about, using our phones depends on signals from telecoms masts. Since the first dozen masts were erected by Vodafone in 1985 to cover London and the M4 corridor, they have become ubiquitous across the country. In London alone there are estimated to be some 7,000 of the monopole masts we see on streets and the tops [more…]
![Thermal leakage [Grosvenor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Grosvenor-heat-leakage-e1770820351445.jpg?resize=452%2C491&ssl=1)
Barriers to historic building retrofit
A New Grosvenor report warns that England’s three million listed buildings and conservation area homes are being trapped in cold, costly decline by an outdated planning system
Local authorities spend the equivalent of 4,000 working days a year approving low-risk energy efficiency works that are almost always consented anyway
Retrofitting listed properties and buildings in conservation areas in England and Wales could deliver around 30% of the annual emissions reductions needed to meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget.
Our new Resources page has some useful retrofit [more…]
Chief Planner’s update
The MHCLG Chief Planner, Johanna Averley (pictured), has issued a newsletter to local authority planners. It covers a Modernised Planning Committees consultation and speeding up build-out with Completion Notices, a Delayed Homes Penalty and Compulsory Purchase Orders, as in a recent Working Paper and Technical Consultation.
The Government proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill amendments to remove the statutory requirement to consult in the pre-application stage for NSIP applications.
DEFRA is consulting on options for how Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) should be applied and MHCLG issued a related Working [more…]
Permitted development homes could be uninhabitable
Insurer Zurich UK has warned that office-to-residential conversions introduced in 2013 must be done properly or they will be uninhabitable for the future. Housing does not need to meet building regulations where there is a ‘material change of use’. The report details the serious problems found. 89,500 homes have been developed from commercial buildings and the lifting of a size cap on office-to-residential conversions in March led to applications increasing by 20% in England in a year.
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Try a new search:
How Effective is Planning Enforcement? Meeting Record & Video
Last week we held a well-attended talk on the subject of Planning Enforcement, chaired by Brian Keane of PE&T, which ...
Consultation on Heathrow expansion
A Draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) consultation has been published with a deadline for responses by 1st September ...
AI tool to halve planning decision times
A new AI facility is being tested in Barnet and Camden boroughs to speed up decision times.
The facility assesses ...
Garden Annexe, Caravan, or Mobile Home?
Tim Catchpole of the Mortlake and East Sheen Society writes…
Our Society has had a recent experience which we would like to share with other London Forum members who may [more…]
Most Popular This Week
-
Member Services Committee meeting
📅 Thu 6th August | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room F3 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)
-
Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 13th August | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)