‘You cannot rip up the countryside first and ask permission later’: PCC calls for new powers to stop major illegal development

Jonathan Ash-Edwards has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, calling for an urgent strengthening of planning enforcement laws following a series of high-profile incidents in Hertfordshire.

His intervention follows incidents at Friendless Lane in Flamstead over Easter and Sheering Mill Lane in Sawbridgeworth over the Bank Holiday weekend, where significant development activity took place without planning permission.

In both cases, large quantities of aggregate and building materials were brought onto land, heavy machinery was used and extensive groundworks began, causing considerable concern among local residents.

The Commissioner says the incidents have exposed a serious gap in the law because even where substantial development is visibly taking place without planning permission, police attending the scene have very limited powers to intervene simply because the development itself is unauthorised.

Following discussions with Hertfordshire Chief Constable Andy Prophet, Mr Ash-Edwards is now calling on Government to change the law.

His proposals include:

- A new 72-hour Emergency Stop Power for police, allowing officers to halt substantial development, backed by power of arrest, where there are reasonable grounds to believe planning permission is required but has not been granted. This would give councils time to investigate and take formal planning enforcement action.

- New police powers to enforce Temporary Stop Notices, including powers to stop works, arrest those breaching a Stop Notice and, where appropriate, immobilise or seize vehicles and machinery being used to continue the development.

- A new criminal offence of Aggravated Intentional Unauthorised Development, targeting those who knowingly carry out major works with the intention of circumventing planning enforcement – including deliberately beginning rapid development over weekends and Bank Holidays.

The Commissioner is clear that the proposals would target serious and deliberate abuse of the planning system, rather than householders making genuine mistakes or committing minor planning breaches.

Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, said:

“What we have seen in Hertfordshire exposes a glaring weakness in our planning laws.

“People can arrive on a site with heavy machinery, aggregate and building materials and begin fundamentally altering our countryside without planning permission. Police officers can be standing there watching it happen but have no powers to tell them to stop. That cannot be right.

“Residents in Flamstead saw this at Easter and communities around Sawbridgeworth have now experienced similar concerns over the Bank Holiday weekend. People understandably ask why something so substantial can happen so quickly while the authorities appear powerless to intervene.

“There is a particular problem when major works begin over a weekend or Bank Holiday. By the time the planning system catches up, the landscape may already have been fundamentally changed.

“I don't want police officers becoming planning officers. Planning enforcement rightly sits with our councils. But there needs to be an emergency brake for the most serious cases.

“That is why I am proposing a tightly defined power allowing police to stop substantial works for up to 72 hours, backed by a power of arrest. That doesn't decide whether a development should ultimately be allowed, it simply freezes the situation long enough for the council to investigate and exercise its planning powers.

“I also want much stronger consequences for those who deliberately game the system. If someone knowingly waits for a Bank Holiday, arrives with heavy machinery and carries out rapid, substantial works specifically to get ahead of enforcement, I believe that should become a criminal offence.

“The principle is straightforward, nobody should be able to game the planning system by ripping up our countryside first and asking for permission later.”

Mr Ash-Edwards said the current situation is particularly unfair on residents and landowners who comply with planning rules while others may seek to gain an advantage by developing first and dealing with enforcement afterwards.

He has asked Government to consider creating an offence of Aggravated Intentional Unauthorised Development, with a deliberately high threshold so that ordinary planning disputes and minor breaches would not be criminalised.

It could apply to substantial works including excavation, concreting, laying hardcore, earthworks, installing access roads or destroying habitats where there was evidence they had been deliberately undertaken to circumvent planning controls.

The Commissioner has discussed the issue with Chief Constable Andy Prophet and says Hertfordshire Constabulary would use appropriately drafted new powers robustly and fairly in support of local authorities.

Mr Ash-Edwards has copied his proposals to Hertfordshire’s MPs and the Minister for Policing and Crime and has offered to work with Government on developing the proposals further.

He added:

“The law needs to catch up with what communities are experiencing on the ground. A system which only becomes effective after potentially irreversible work has already taken place isn't providing the protection residents rightly expect.

“I want Government to close that gap and give councils and police the tools they need to act quickly, fairly and decisively when our countryside is deliberately put at risk.”