Planning enforcement is one of the most challenging and high-profile parts of the planning system. It can be contentious or legally complex, and plays an important role in maintaining local confidence in the wider planning service. PAS offers resources for briefing local members or delivering a councillor training session in order to help support good governance, build confidence and improve the quality of decision‑making.
This resource is aimed at local authority planners and officers responsible for supporting planning committees or member development. The briefing material itself is designed for planning committee members and other locally elected members, providing a clear understanding of the role of planning enforcement, how decisions are made and what members can (and cannot) influence, alongside a practical appreciation of policy, legislation and regulations.
Content
The briefing material provides a practical overview of:
- The purpose of planning enforcement and its role within the wider planning system
- The legislative and policy framework for enforcement, including the Local Planning Enforcement Plan
- What matters can and cannot be investigated by enforcement teams
- The enforcement investigation process, including expediency and proportionality
- The range of informal and formal enforcement powers available to councils
- The specific role of councillors in supporting effective enforcement services
The emphasis throughout is on judgement, proportionality and outcomes.
Using the briefing
A comprehensive slide pack is available below to download and use for briefing members or delivering training. PAS expects councils to adapt, tailor and curate the material to reflect local priorities, pressures and committee experience. Authorities will not need to use every slide and we recommend selecting the slides that are most relevant to your objectives or local context. In particular please make sure to:
- Tailor the content: The presentation is provided in PowerPoint and can be easily modified. You will want to add local context, enforcement priorities and / or case studies.
- Use the slides flexibly: Break up the presentation with discussion, short exercises or quizzes to test understanding.
- Draw on officer expertise: Involve officers at different levels in delivering the session. This can be a valuable opportunity for officers and councillors to discuss enforcement issues together outside a formal committee setting.
- Make use of speaker notes: The slides include notes to support delivery and provide additional explanation where helpful.
- Allow time for discussion and questions: Build in sufficient time for questions so that learning is reinforced.
- Share the materials with members: Providing the slides to councillors after the session allows them to refer back to key information when issues arise. Members often find slides explaining enforcement terminology particularly useful.
PAS facilitated training
In addition to using the materials locally, councils can invite PAS to facilitate a planning enforcement training session for members in your local authority. This can be helpful where committees are new, enforcement issues are locally sensitive or councils want to link enforcement more explicitly to defensible decision-making. PAS-facilitated sessions can be tailored to reflect:
- Local enforcement priorities and pressures
- The experience level of committee members
- Links to wider planning committee training, including defensible decision-making
- Specific areas of concern or recent cases (where appropriate)
Sessions are typically delivered as interactive workshops, drawing on the slide pack alongside discussion and local examples, and can be adapted to support induction, refresher training or targeted development.
If you would like to discuss whether PAS-facilitated enforcement training would be helpful for your council, please contact the PAS team at: [email protected]k