Planning Enforcement in Nottingham

Planning Enforcement – Response times and advice before you contact us

Due to current resourcing pressures, our initial response time to Planning Enforcement enquiries is up to 21 days.

Please note:
This response time applies to all enquiries except those relating to:

• Listed buildings, and
• Trees protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO)

These matters remain a priority and will be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Check Before You Contact Us

Not all building works or changes of use require planning permission, and some concerns may not constitute a breach of planning control. Before submitting an enquiry, we strongly encourage you to:

• Check whether the works may be permitted development
  👉 GOV.UK – Planning permission and permitted development
  https://www.gov.uk/planning-permission-england-wales
• Use the Planning Portal to understand what does and does not require permission
  👉 Planning Portal
  https://www.planningportal.co.uk
• Check the planning history of the property to see if permission has already been granted
  👉 Simple Search

These steps may help resolve your concern without the need to contact the Planning Enforcement team and will help us focus our limited resources on the most serious breaches.

Submitting an Enquiry

If, after carrying out the checks above, you believe there may be a breach of planning control, you can submit a Planning Enforcement enquiry. Please provide as much information as possible to help us assess the matter.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

How to report building work that doesn't have planning permission

Our Planning Enforcement Team investigate building work that has been done without planning permission, or that does not follow the plans that we have approved. We also investigate the use of buildings without planning permission, and other breaches of planning rules such as unauthorised advertisements and illegal work to protected trees.

If you are concerned that something is being built, or property is being used without planning permission please do not hesitate to contact us.

If the work needs planning permission but it hasn't been applied for or granted, we will consider whether any problems are being caused. If we think that there are no issues, we may invite the owner to apply for 'retrospective planning permission', or decide to take no action.

If the work is more problematic, we may serve an enforcement notice requiring it to be undone or modified. There is a range of other powers available to us, depending upon the severity of the problem.

In extreme cases, we can serve notices requiring unauthorised work to stop immediately. Failure to comply with formal notices may result in prosecution.

Our Pollution Control Team may also be able to help if you are experiencing problems that aren't directly related to whether or not planning permission has been granted.