In article ,
Buckshee wrote:
Since the granting of planning permission is a subjective process
(although claimed to be objective by planning authorities) how can
anyone be certain that a planning authority would have given
permission? I personally know of many perverse decisions that have
been made in my locale.

Which is why going ahead without pp is not a good idea

If you are requested by the planning authority to seek
retrospective permission, and decline to do so, then, surely, the
planning authority will seek enforcement if it thinks the
unauthorised development warrants such action, or the authority
wants to punish an offender?

Under s.172 of the T&CPA 1990 the LA can issue an enforcement notice
when there has been a breach of planning control and it deems it
expedient to issue such a notice. A desire to punish someone is not
a valid reason for issuing such a notice. One of the grounds for
appealing against such a notice is the work that is the subject of
the notice is work for which pp would have been granted, and if the
Inspector upheld this he could, if he felt the LA had acted
capriciously, award costs to the applicant.

So when dg says " Nor is it correct that the LA can not take
enforcement action - they are obligated and granted the power by
Statute to take any necessary action.", the necessary action is to
consider whether an enforcement notice should be issued, and the
answer to this question may well be no.

An interesting case of a council deciding not to enforce took place
on my BCO patch. A sex shop chain took over a local shop and turned
it into a sex shop (this was before licensing provisions applied)
and painted the shopfront windows so that you couldn't see in. There
was of course much local outrage and a demand that something be
done. An embarrassed planning officer had to explain to the
committee that, yes, painting over the windows was a material change
of appearance and a breach of planning control, but the only
recourse was to serve a notice demanding removal of all the paint so
you could see into the shop as before. They decided not serve a
notice!

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