Under section 171E of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a local planning authority (LPA) may issue a temporary stop notice if it thinks that there has been a breach of planning control and that it is expedient that the activity is stopped immediately. A temporary stop notice comes into force once served, and applies for twenty-eight days. Its effect is to require that any unauthorised development is stopped at once. During that time, the LPA should in most cases be able to assess the circumstances, and determine whether further enforcement action would be appropriate.
The penalty for non-compliance is a fine of up to £20,000 on summary conviction, or an unlimited fine on indictment. There is no right of appeal, although the decision to serve a temporary stop notice may be subject to judicial review. For a LPA, this is a much swifter and cheaper means of enforcement than, for instance, a planning injunction and it is widely used in a variety of circumstances
However, the Town and Country Planning (Temporary Stop Notice) (England) Regulations 2005 (the Regulations) have until very recently provided that the stationing of a caravan will not be prohibited by a temporary stop notice, where the land is used for that purpose immediately before the issue of the notice and the caravan is at that time occupied by a person as his main residence.
The only exception is where the LPA considers that the risk of harm to a compelling public interest arising from the stationing of the caravan is so serious as to outweigh any benefit to the occupier of stationing the caravan during period when the temporary stop notice is in force. (This might be the case, for example, where the caravan was sited in a dangerous position or a sensitive location.)
Following a public consultation, the Secretary of State has now revoked the Regulations with effect from 29 March 2013. This is intended particularly to strengthen the hand of an LPA in terms of preventing the development of unauthorised traveller sites. That said, a LPA will still have to balance the impacts of using its enforcement powers against individuals in breach of planning control against wider impacts, having due regard to the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equalities Act 2010.
John Martin
