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Report a breach

A planning breach is when:

  • someone makes changes to their property without having planning permission to do so
  • someone breaks one or more of the conditions that are part of the planning permission

Can I report a breach anonymously?

You can report a breach anonymously or you can provide us with your contact details and ask us to keep them confidential. However, if you provide us with your details, we can tell you if we are going to take action.

How to report a breach

You can report a possible breach by:

Alternatively you can contact us by e-mail, telephone or letter telling us:

  • the alleged breach and date
  • location
  • name and address of the owner (if known)
  • your name and contact details

Please send to:

Planning Service
Aldern House
Baslow Road
Bakewell
DE45 1AE
Telephone: 01629 816 200
Email: customer.service@peakdistrict.gov.uk

What happens when I report a breach?

We aim to reply to you initially within three working days, confirming who will be dealing with your concerns. We will then investigate whether a breach has occurred or not. This can take several weeks.

The first thing we do is carry out a site visit to find out as much as we can about the activity taking place.

If, after the site visit, we need further information we could serve a planning contravention notice on the owner or user of the site. This is issued to help collect details about the possible breach and the person(s) involved.

Also, we may invite the recipient to meet with us to discuss the possibility of them applying for retrospective planning permission. Legally, we have to consider retrospective planning applications, even when it appears unlikely that planning permission would be granted.

What we take into account

Our planning enforcement team covers around 580 square miles and receives a lot of reports of breaches. This means that we have to prioritise our work based on:

  • public safety
  • the level of harm caused to the national park
  • amenity

What happens if there is a breach?

If our site visit and investigations show that a planning breach appears to have taken place, we write to the person responsible advising them to either:

  • reverse the unauthorised work or
  • apply for retrospective planning permission by a specified date (usually within 28 days)

Legally, we have to consider retrospective planning applications, even when it appears unlikely that planning permission would be granted.

If this approach is unsuccessful, or if a retrospective application is refused, we will then consider formal enforcement action. Wherever possible we try to resolve matters informally. The decision to take formal action is based on the seriousness of the breach.

If you have reported a breach of planning regulations, we will tell you if we decide to take formal enforcement action.