Cornwall Council Served 90 Planning Enforcement Notices Last Year

A caravan and shed put up in an agricultural field at Treen, St Levan are gone, cleared by the landowner within six months of Cornwall Council serving a formal notice. It is one of 90 enforcement notices the Council issued in 2024 / 2025, a figure that now places it among the five toughest planning authorities in England.

Fifth out of 309

New Government figures rank Cornwall Council 5th out of 309 councils nationally for the number of planning enforcement notices served, up one place from 6th the previous year. It is the first time the authority has broken into the top five.

Of the 90 notices served, just 18 went to appeal and 17 of those were upheld. That works out at a 94% success rate, above the national average.

A further 335 cases were resolved through negotiation, with breaches sorted without any need for formal action.

“We will not hesitate”

Cornwall Councillor Sarah Preece, portfolio holder for planning, said the figures showed how seriously the authority took the job.

“We know that Cornwall is a precious, precious place for the people who live here and the people who visit,” Sarah said. “We take our responsibility to protect our environment very seriously and will always work with developers to make sure we get the right building in the right place.

“However, in cases where there has been inappropriate development that would not get planning permission or buildings which have not been constructed in accordance with planning permission and which create significant planning harm, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action.”

The numbers behind the work

The Council’s planning service normally handles around 10,000 applications a year. The vast majority go through without any problem.

The enforcement team investigates around 1,300 planning cases annually. Some involve large developments, but many are smaller matters. Unauthorised work in conservation areas. Inappropriate changes to listed buildings. Development in the open countryside.

Single residential caravans erected in agricultural fields account for up to half of all enforcement notices served.

Roughly 30% of complaints turn out to involve no breach of planning control at all, and require no further action.

Negotiation first

Jon Drew, Group Leader for Enforcement and Minerals and Waste, said the team always tried to reach a solution before going formal.

“Government policy encourages us to try and negotiate a solution before taking formal enforcement action,” Jon said. “Last year a breach of planning control was ceased through negotiation without the need to take formal action in 164 cases. A further 171 retrospective planning applications were received to regularise breaches of planning control following the initial investigation.”

Where negotiation fails, the team serves a formal notice ordering the breach to stop. In some cases that can mean a building has to come down and be removed from the site.

The St Levan caravan

The Treen case began when a resident contacted Brian Clemens, Cornwall Councillor for Land’s End, with concerns about a caravan and shed that had appeared in an agricultural field for use as holiday accommodation.

After visiting the site, Brian shared the concerns about the visual impact of what he described as an unsustainable development in the open countryside, and backed the call for enforcement action.

The notice required the residential use and storage of the caravan to cease, with the items removed from the land. It was not appealed. The landowner cleared the site within the six month deadline.

Responding to the criticism

Sarah acknowledged the Council is often accused of being slow or unwilling to act.

“There are often comments made that Cornwall Council does not take enforcement or that any action is too slow,” she said. “Our record shows that we take enforcement action where the planning merits support it. This is evidenced by our performance compared with other Councils nationally. Where we don’t take action, it is because the planning harm is not at a level to justify action.

“As explained above there is also a lot of work going on behind the scenes to negotiate better outcomes in a more cost-effective way, balancing impacts and benefits of development and helping to deliver against our local plan.”