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The key findings are based on the first four statistical returns since local government reorganisation.
On average 6710 enforcement cases are investigated per year which compares with an average of 42423 planning applications decided in Scotland per year.
6.8% of all enforcement cases taken up subsequently result in the service of Enforcement Notices.
7.5% of all enforcement cases taken up result in the service of Planning Contravention Notices.
Local Authorities vary considerably in the take-up rate from complaints to formal enforcement action.
Despite the range of enforcement powers available local authorities make limited use of most of them.
Revised and enhanced powers of enforcement were introduced in the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 and explained in Circulars 8/1992 and 36/1992. The effectiveness of these enhanced powers was the subject of research, "The Review of Planning Enforcement" published in 1997 and the publication of a consolidated Circular and Planning Advice Note was an outcome of recommendations of that research. Circular 4/1999 and PAN 54 in particular emphasised the need for local authorities to use the full range of powers available to them.
The statistics do not provide a full breakdown of that range of powers but what information is available reinforces the findings of the research that Direct Action, Stop Notice and Interdict in particular were rarely used. For instance only 8 authorities issued a Stop Notice representing 0.1% of all cases taken up.
Conversely 20 authorities issued Breach of Condition Notices so although in total they only amounted to 1.9% of cases taken up at least a far higher proportion of authorities were prepared to use this power.
During 1997/98 28 of the 32 authorities issued 489 enforcement notices amounting to 6.8% of cases taken up and 24 issued 540 planning contravention notices amounting to 7.5% of cases taken up. Even with the most used powers however, not all authorities used them. Perhaps most significant is the small proportion of cases which translate to formal action. The number of cases taken up is derived from cases instigated by an authority or more usually from complaints from the public. Most are resolved by discussion or are deemed not to justify enforcement action frequently after the issue of a PCN and it is only those which do require planning permission and contravene planning regulations which end up with the issue of an enforcement notice or one of the other less used powers.
There is a wide variation between authorities in the use of enforcement powers with only 5 converting more than 20% of cases into formal action and a further 5 between 10-20%. Glasgow received more cases than any other authority with 1003 in 1997/98 and also took more formal action with 271 PCN's, 131 EN's and 11 BCN's. Other active authorities include Fife with 119 notices issued against 522 cases whereas Aberdeenshire with 906 cases only issued 69 notices. Edinburgh with 790 cases issued even fewer notices, 34 in total.
There is no discernable pattern to either cases taken up or the notices actually served, whether city, urban or rural authority. However perhaps not surprisingly there is a comparison with overall development activity and cases taken up as evidenced by the number of planning applications, as 4 of the 5 authorities with over 3000 applications per annum are Glasgow, Fife, Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh.
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