SERVICES / DESIGN & CONSENTS / ENFORCEMENT
Had a letter from planning enforcement? There is usually a route.
When work has gone ahead without the right consent, we assess the breach, speak to the enforcement officer and prepare the retrospective application, or the changes needed to put it right.
- For
- Businesses · landlords · homeowners
- We handle
- Officer liaison · retrospective applications
- Common cases
- Extraction · flues · signage · extensions
- Area
- South & South West
- “The council says our extraction flue needs planning permission.”
- “We’ve been given a deadline to submit an application.”
- “The work was done before we bought the building.”
Planning enforcement is discretionary. In most cases the council would rather a breach was put right than prosecuted, and a retrospective planning application is the usual way to do that.
We look at what was built and what policy allows, then talk to the enforcement officer about the route and the timescale. The application then has to answer the officer’s actual concerns: noise, odour, appearance or neighbours’ amenity, backed by the technical evidence.
If what is there can’t be approved as built, we design the change that can be, and build it.
- Early, direct contact with the enforcement officer, and deadlines kept.
- Technical depth on extraction and odour control, the most common restaurant case.
- An honest view on whether it will be approved, and a fallback design if not.
- One team to make any physical changes the consent requires.
For a restaurant in Bournemouth, after the council opened an enforcement case, we prepared and submitted a retrospective application for replacement extraction equipment and flues, with the filtration and odour-control specification.
Will we be prosecuted?
Formal action is usually a last resort when an owner engages with the council. If you have received a formal notice, take legal advice as well; we deal with the planning case.
Do we have to stop using it?
Not automatically. It depends on what the council has asked for. Talk to us before you change anything.
Is there a time limit on enforcement?
Yes, and the rules changed in 2024. We’ll check how they apply to your case.
What does the application need?
Usually drawings of what was built, a statement explaining it, and technical reports for noise or odour where relevant.
Kitchen extraction & planning Restaurants & takeaways Building regulations
START HERE
Received a letter? Send it to us.
A copy of the council’s letter and a few photos is enough to tell you the likely route and timescale.