From 25 April 2024, section 171B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

The big change – a ten-year limit

From 25 April the enforcement time limits in England (but not in Wales- the enforcement period will remain 4 years) will be ten years, for all breaches of planning control.

Other changes

The Bill also introduces ‘Enforcement Warning Notices’, a new type of notice that an LPA could use where it thinks there has been a breach of planning control, but where there is a reasonable prospect of it granting planning permission.

These would set out that further enforcement may be taken, if a planning application is not made within a set time period.

Such notices would formalise the current mechanism where LPAs encourage the submission of planning applications to regularise minor or technical breaches of planning control.

However, unlike the current situation, where landowners may often take no action in response to minor or technical breaches of planning control, knowing enforcement action is highly unlikely, Enforcement Warning Notices are expected to have teeth to them and to require a subsequent application.

Listed buildings

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill also includes proposals to enable Temporary Stop Notices to be served where the LPA considers that works are being done to a listed building which require listed building consent and need to be stopped immediately.