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Circular 4/1999

ANNEX F

STOP NOTICES

Purpose Of A Stop Notice

• Section 140 of the 1997 Act sets out the procedures regarding Stop Notices. Where planning authorities consider it expedient that any 'relevant activity' should cease before the expiry of the compliance period in an enforcement notice, they may serve a stop notice prohibiting the carrying out of that activity on the land to which the enforcement notice relates, or any part of that land. A 'relevant activity' is any activity required by the enforcement notice to cease, and any activity carried out as part of that activity or associated with it.
• With the exceptions indicated in paragraph 3 below, a stop notice may prohibit any, or all, of the activities which comprise the alleged breach of planning control in the related enforcement notice. Thus the prohibition may be directed at:

1. a use of land which is ancillary, or incidental, to the main use of the land specified in the enforcement notice as a breach of control; or

2 a particular activity taking place only on part of the land specified in the enforcement notice; or

3. an activity which takes place on the land intermittently or seasonally.

A stop notice may be used to prohibit the use of land as a site for a caravan occupied as a person's only or main residence.

A stop notice may not prohibit:

1. the use of any building as a dwellinghouse;

2. the carrying out of any activity which has been carried out (whether continuously or not) for a period of more than 4 years ending with the service of the notice. (For this purpose, no account is to be taken of any period during which the activity was authorised by planning permission).

However this does prevent a stop notice prohibiting:

3. any activity consisting of, or incidental to, building, engineering, mining or other operations or the deposit of refuse or waste materials.

Deciding To Serve A Stop Notice

• The effect of serving a stop notice will usually be to halt the breach of control, or the specified activity, almost immediately. Planning authorities should therefore ensure that a quick but thorough assessment of the likely consequences of serving a stop notice is available (preferably, when the decision is not delegated to officers, in the form of a report submitted by Planning or Enforcement Officers who are thoroughly familiar with the locality and the detailed operation of the alleged breach of control) to the Committee or officer who will authorise service of the notice. The assessment should examine the foreseeable costs and benefits likely to result from a stop notice.
• The costs arising from serving a stop notice will usually be confined to the firm, operator or landowner who is thereby prevented from carrying on the activity prohibited by the notice. There may occasionally be some costs to the local economy.
• The costs to a firm may vary from having to modify a production process, at little or no additional cost (at one extreme), to the complete cessation of a business (at the other), with consequent loss of jobs, failure to complete contracts, or bankruptcy. The effect of prohibiting a particular activity should always be carefully examined. For example, preventing storage in the open of raw materials or finished products may have an immediate and serious effect upon a production process relying on those raw materials, or on the availability of the storage area for the finished produce. Even if the practical effect of the stop notice falls short of disrupting a production process, it may nevertheless add appreciably to a firm's costs, so that the finished product is priced out of its home market, or the firm can no longer compete effectively with other firms in a wider market. Since Section 140(1) and (2) enable a stop notice to be directed at any activity specified in the enforcement notice, or any part of an activity, or any associated activity, planning authorities should ensure that a stop notice's requirements prohibit only what is essential to safeguard amenity or public safety in the neighbourhood; or to prevent serious or irreversible harm to the environment in the surrounding area.
• Before deciding to serve a stop notice, the planning authority's representative should discuss, whenever practicable, with the person carrying on the activity whether there is any alternative means of production or operation which would overcome the objections to it in an environmentally acceptable way. If an acceptable alternative means of production or operation would require the grant of planning permission, in order to carry it on lawfully, the planning authority should take the initiative in inviting a planning application; and, if possible, in co-ordinating a suitable grant of permission with the service of the stop notice. However, since the purpose of a stop notice is to compel the activities specified in it to cease, any delay should be minimised.
• The benefits of serving a stop notice will usually be readily apparent as an improvement in amenity in the neighbourhood. Planning authorities should consider how many people are likely to benefit, and how adversely their amenities will be affected if a stop notice is not served (on the assumption that the enforcement notice will eventually take effect on expiry of the compliance period specified in it).

Serving A Stop Notice

• Once a planning authority has decided to serve a stop notice, it is essential to implement the decision speedily and effectively. There should always be a clear understanding (preferably stated in administrative instructions) about the respective responsibilities of the local authority's Planning Department and Legal Department for the necessary preparatory work, the formulation of the terms of the stop notice, the arrangements for serving it and how its practical effect will be assessed (including the need to bring a prosecution quickly if the notice is contravened). Since serving a stop notice is relatively infrequent for many planning authorities, it will usually be best to maintain the essential knowledge and experience of stop notice procedures in a small group of planning and legal officers. When the decision to serve a stop notice has been taken, action to implement it must have top priority.
• Subject to paragraph 14 below, a stop notice may be served on any person who appears to have an interest in the land to which the notice relates, or who appears to be engaged in any activity prohibited by the notice. The planning authority must attach as an annex to the stop notice a copy of the related enforcement notice.
• A stop notice must specify the 'relevant activity' which is required to cease. A stop notice must also specify the date when it is to take effect. Section 140(7) specifies that the effective date must normally not be earlier than 3 days (or later than 28 days) after the date when the notice is served. But, when there are special reasons for specifying an earlier date, a stop notice may take effect before 3 days, or immediately. If the notice is to take effect earlier than 3 days, a statement of reasons must be served with it. For example, it may be considered essential to protect an area of special landscape value, or a conservation area, from operational development (such as buildings, roadways or other hard surfaces) which, if it continued, would be especially harmful.
• The service of a stop notice should always be recorded immediately in the enforcement and stop notice register which authorities are required, by Section 147 of the 1997 Act, to maintain.
• The procedures for service of notices, specified in Section 271 of the 1997 Act, apply to the service of a stop notice. In particular, a stop notice should always be identifiable by the recipient as a communication of the first importance. If the notice is served by postal delivery, the envelope containing it should clearly state that it is an urgent and important communication; and it should be sent by recorded delivery service.
• Section 140(3) provides that a stop notice may not be served where the related enforcement notice has taken effect. (Section 128(8) requires the authority to specify the date on which the enforcement notice shall take effect). However, if there is an enforcement appeal to the Secretary of State, Section 131(3) suspends the effect of the enforcement notice until the appeal against it is finally determined or withdrawn. It follows from these provisions that, when there is an appeal against the related enforcement notice, the authority may serve a stop notice at any time during the currency of the enforcement appeal, including any further appeal, under Section 239, to the Court of Session

Effective Service Of A Stop Notice

• The validity of a stop notice cannot be challenged on the ground that it has not been served on someone who ought to be served with it. Section 140(8) enables the planning authority to serve a stop notice on any person who appears to them to have an interest in the land, or to be engaged in any activity prohibited by the notice. Thus, for example, when an enforcement notice is directed at a breach of planning control involving operations to rebuild a derelict rural dwellinghouse, and the owner of the land cannot be contacted, the planning authority may serve the stop notice on anyone who is actually engaged in carrying out the building works prohibited by the notice. Normal administrative practice should be to trace any owner or occupier of the land and arrange for the stop notice to be served on them also.
• A stop notice is not invalid because a copy of the related enforcement notice was not served as required by Section 127, if it is shown that the planning authority took all such steps as were reasonably practicable to effect proper service.

Public Notification Of Service Of A Stop Notice

• Planning authorities may publicise the fact that a stop notice has been served by displaying a 'site notice' on the land to which the stop notice relates. If a site notice is displayed, it extends the effect of the stop notice to any person contravening it.
• A site notice, publicising a stop notice, must state:

• the requirements of the stop notice,
• that the stop notice has been served on a particular person or persons; and
• the consequences under Section 144 of contravention of the stop notice.

Challenging A Stop Notice

• There is no right of appeal to the Secretary of State against the prohibition in a stop notice. The merits of the planning authority's decision to serve a stop notice cannot be examined in the course of an appeal to the Secretary of State, under Section 130, against the related enforcement notice. The validity of a stop notice, and the propriety of the authority's decision to issue a notice, may be challenged by applying to the Court of Session for judicial review, or in defence proceedings under Section 140.

Penalties For Contravention

• When a site notice has been displayed for a stop notice, it is an immediate offence for anyone to contravene, or to cause or permit the contravention of, the prohibition in a stop notice, once the stop notice takes effect. When a site notice has not been displayed and the stop notice has been served on a person, it is an offence for that person to contravene, or to cause or permit the contravention of, the prohibition in the stop notice. An offence may be charged to any day or longer period of time and a person may be convicted of a second or subsequent offence by reference to any period of time following the preceding conviction for such an offence. A person guilty of this offence is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £20,000; and, on conviction on indictment, to an unlimited fine. In determining the amount of any fine to be imposed, the Court is to have regard to any financial benefit which has accrued, or appears likely to accrue, in consequence of the offence. Therefore, planning authorities should always be ready to make available any known details about the proceeds resulting from, or likely to result from, the offence, so that the Court can take account of them in sentencing the offender.
• It is a defence for those prosecuted for an offence under Section 140 to prove that the stop notice was not served on them and that they did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, of its existence. It is thus important for planning authorities to observe the guidance in paragraph 12 above.

Power To Withdraw A Stop Notice

• Planning authorities may withdraw a stop notice at any time (without prejudice to their power to serve another notice) by giving notification of the withdrawal to everyone who was served with the stop notice. If a site notice was displayed on the land specified in the stop notice, a notice of the withdrawal is to be displayed in place of the site notice.

Cessation Of Effect Of A Stop Notice

• A stop notice ceases to have effect when:

1. the related enforcement notice is withdrawn by the planning authority or is quashed on appeal to the Secretary of State under Section 132;

2. the period the planning authority has allowed for compliance with the related enforcement notice expires (at that point, instead of being an offence to contravene the prohibition in the stop notice, it will become an offence not to comply with the requirements specified by the planning authority in the enforcement notice);

3. notification is first given of the planning authority's decision to withdraw the stop notice.

• When an enforcement notice is varied (for example, on appeal to the Secretary of State under Section 132), so that the alleged breach of planning control no longer includes a particular activity which is prohibited in the related stop notice. The prohibition in the stop notice ceases to have effect in so far as it relates to that particular activity.

Planning Authority Liability For Compensation

• The circumstances under which planning authorities may be liable to pay compensation are set out in Section 143(1)-(4). If, at any time when the stop notice is in force, the activity prohibited by it was a breach of planning control, the planning authority are not liable to pay compensation for any consequent loss or damages (Section 143(5)(a)). Moreover, under the provisions of Section 143(5)(b), anyone who failed to respond to a planning contravention notice, or other statutory notice requiring information, cannot obtain compensation from the planning authority in respect of any loss or damage which could have been avoided if they had provided the information requested, or had otherwise co-operated with the planning authority when responding to the notice.
• A model stop notice is at Annex 8 to PAN 54 on enforcement.

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