Hertfordshire police could get power to halt illegal countryside development under new plans
Emergency 72-hour stop power among proposals sent to Government after incidents in Flamstead and Sawbridgeworth
Police should be given emergency powers to halt serious unauthorised development before irreversible damage is done to the countryside.
That's according to Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Jonathan Ash-Edwards, who has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, calling for planning enforcement laws to be urgently strengthened.
Why the PCC is calling for change
His intervention follows incidents at Friendless Lane in Flamstead over Easter and Sheering Mill Lane in Sawbridgeworth over the Bank Holiday weekend, where significant development took place without planning permission.
In both cases, large quantities of aggregate and building materials were brought onto land, heavy machinery was used and extensive groundworks began.
The Commissioner says the incidents have exposed a serious gap in the law, because even where substantial development is visibly taking place without planning permission, police attending the scene have very limited powers to intervene.
The proposals follow discussions with Hertfordshire Chief Constable Andy Prophet.
What's being proposed
The Commissioner's proposals include a new 72-hour Emergency Stop Power for police, allowing officers to halt substantial development, backed by a power of arrest, where there are reasonable grounds to believe planning permission is required but has not been granted.
He also wants new police powers to enforce Temporary Stop Notices, including powers to stop works, arrest those breaching a Stop Notice and, where appropriate, immobilise or seize vehicles and machinery.
A third proposal is a new criminal offence of Aggravated Intentional Unauthorised Development, targeting those who knowingly carry out major works to circumvent planning enforcement, including deliberately starting rapid development over weekends and Bank Holidays.
Mr Ash-Edwards says the proposals would target serious and deliberate abuse of the planning system, rather than householders making genuine mistakes or committing minor planning breaches.
What the Commissioner said
Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, said:
"What we have seen in Hertfordshire exposes a glaring weakness in our planning laws.
"People can arrive on a site with heavy machinery, aggregate and building materials and begin fundamentally altering our countryside without planning permission. Police officers can be standing there watching it happen but have no powers to tell them to stop. That cannot be right.
"I don't want police officers becoming planning officers. Planning enforcement rightly sits with our councils. But there needs to be an emergency brake for the most serious cases.
"The principle is straightforward, nobody should be able to game the planning system by ripping up our countryside first and asking for permission later."
The Commissioner says the current situation is particularly unfair on people who comply with planning rules while others may seek to gain an advantage by developing first and dealing with enforcement afterwards.
He has asked Government to consider a deliberately high threshold for the new offence, so that ordinary planning disputes and minor breaches would not be criminalised.
Mr Ash-Edwards has copied his proposals to Hertfordshire's MPs and the Minister for Policing and Crime, and has offered to work with Government on developing them further.