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Annex 1: Western Isles policy 

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL ENFORCEMENT POLICY (WESTERN ISLES) 
Objective 
To ensure that developments are undertaken in conformity with planning 
legislation and with any consent conditions applied by the Council. 

Scope 
This policy applies to breaches of planning control: 
a) Where a development takes place without having been granted planning 
consent; and 

b) Where a condition under which planning consent has been granted, has not 
been complied with. 

Monitoring
 To see that the terms of the objective are met, monitoring will be carried out 
on the following basis: 

a) Monitoring for unauthorised development will take place in the course of 
routine duties by staff in the Environmental Services Department; 

b) Developments with planning permission will be inspected as the 
development proceeds on a risk assessed basis. In other words, those 
developments which are likely to have the most significant effect on the 
environment or on a neighbours interest will be inspected most frequently; 
and 

c) Complaints regarding breaches of planning control will be investigated 
under the Department's Complaints Procedure. 

Enforcement 
Enforcement action will be taken in all cases where: 

a) Unsatisfactory unauthorised development has taken place; or 

b) The terms of planning conditions imposed on a development have not been 
substantially complied with. 

The type of enforcement action taken will be in proportion to the seriousness 
of the breach. 

Action 
For unauthorised developments and breaches of conditions, the following 
stages of enforcement action will be taken: 

1) A letter will be sent requiring the breach to be regularised within one 
month; 

2) To ensure that formal action is taken against the right person, unless a 
Notice has already been served, a Request for Information Notice will then 
be served within seven days. A failure to reply to such a Notice is an 
offence; 

3) If no steps have been taken to regularise the breach, a Breach of Condition 
Notice or an Enforcement Notice, as appropriate, will be served within 
seven days of the expiry of the Request for Information Notice; 
Pan54: Planning Enforcement 
 
4) If significant steps have been taken and are under way to regularise the 
breach, a further period of one month may be allowed for the breach to be 
regularised before the service of the appropriate notice; 

5) The breach shall be inspected within seven days of the expiry of the Breach 
of Condition Notice or the Enforcement Notice; and 

6) If the breach has not been substantially remedied, the matter shall be 
referred to the Procurator Fiscal. 

Urgent Action 
Where a serious breach requires immediate action, subject to legal advice, an 
interdict may be used. 
Stop Notices (accompanying an Enforcement Notice) will also be used in 
exceptional circumstances where there is an immediate threat to the health and 
safety of the general public. 

Note Please note that this document is only a policy statement and is not a definitive 
statement of the Council's legal position on enforcement matters. The Council 
reserves the right to alter its enforcement policy/policies at any time. 
HF/MML 
17/10/95