Planning enforcement

A breach of planning control is:

• carrying out development without the required planning permission, or 

• failing to comply with any condition or limitation subject to which planning permission has been granted.

We investigate breaches of planning control that are brought to our attention, including from Council officers, members of the public, councillors, consultees etc. We can only investigate when a breach has taken place (rather than before it has happened).

Breaches that will be investigated are:

• Breaches of conditions or approved plans

• Breaches of permitted development

• Unauthorised use of land or buildings, including traveller encampments (see below)

• Unauthorised works to a protected tree in a conservation area or covered by a Tree Preservation Order

• Unauthorised works to a listed building or display of an advert

• Untidy land. 

If your query is not a matter for planning enforcement, one of the teams or organisations listed below may be able to help you.

• For damage to grass verges and pavements, roads, footpaths or other highway matters such as street lighting and dropped kerbs – contact Hertfordshire Highways.

• For on-street parking problems, please see the St Albans City and District Parking Services page. For parking causing a hazard, contact the Police.

• For builders working unusual or unsocial hours and for noise and disturbances, please see the St Albans City and District Regulatory Services page.

• For Health & Safety concerns on Building Sites, please see the Health and Safety Executive webpages.

• For neighbourhood, land boundary or ownership disputes, contact Citizens Advice (or seek independent legal advice).

• For any works to party walls, the Government offers general guidance here as this link Party Wall Act 1996.

• For high hedges, please see the St Albans City and District Council Regulatory Services webpages – see also Problems with your neighbour's high hedges.

• For concerns about dangerous structures, see the St Albans City and District Building Control webpages.

• For works relating to Minerals and waste, contact Hertfordshire County Council.

Things to check before making a complaint about a possible planning breach:

• Does it need permission? There are many forms of development that are permitted under Government legislation and do not require planning permission (permitted development). If your enquiry relates to an outbuilding, please refer to our Advice on Outbuildings page for more information.

• Has it got permission? You can check this on our website by using our Planning Applications Search facility or our District Mapping Service.

Please be aware that we do not accept anonymous complaints unless in they relate to criminal activity in connection with Listed Buildings, Tree Preservation Orders or trees in conservation areas.

To process your complaints we will require your name, address, telephone and email address if you have one, as this will help us to keep you informed about progress. For information on how we will process this information, please read our Privacy Notice.

Reporting a breach

St Albans City and District Council and Watford Borough Council are now a shared service for Planning Enforcement.  As part of this arrangement reports of a planning breach will now be received by Watford Borough Council.

Report a planning breach

Reporting traveller incursions out-of-hours:
To report unauthorised traveller incursions during evenings, weekends and bank holidays you can call our out-of-hours number 01727 811155.

Unauthorised works to protected trees or listed buildings will be prioritised. When demand for investigations is high, alleged breaches with low impact and advertisements will take longer.

• When we have all the information needed, we will let you know who will be investigating. 

• The site will be visited and information collected (within 2 weeks). 

• If a breach is identified the person responsible will be informed. We advise them what action is required to remedy the breach (usually within 1 month of the visit).

• It can take several weeks whilst we investigate, contact the landowner, negotiate, decide whether the development requires planning permission and whether permission might be granted. Some breaches need us to monitor the situation over a number of months requiring several visits.

• Sometimes, we ask for the complaint to be regularised by submitting a planning application. We give a month for this to be sent to us.  Once received, new applications can be seen on our website within 2 weeks. These planning applications are then processed and considered in the same way as an application where not work has not started.

• We update the complainant when a major change in the investigation occurs. Usually, this is the submission of a planning application, we decide not to take action or serve a notice (usually 4-6 months from first complaint).

• Many investigations take 6 months to reach a conclusion with some taking longer.