Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

How will a complaint be dealt with?

Firstly we will visit the property where the alleged breach has taken place. 

If the complaint involves a building, it is usually possible to assess if there has been a breach. If the complaint relates to the use of a property we may have to monitor this for a few weeks. We may ask the person who has complained to help by keeping a log of the alleged unauthorised activity.

If a breach has taken place an enforcement officer will consider what action should be taken, which could range from asking the person responsible to make a retrospective planning application to taking formal action. For more details see What action can be taken if there has been a breach of planning control?

How long will it take for a complaint to be dealt with?

While we try to deal with all complaints as quickly as possible, we will have to prioritise some cases and some complaints may take longer to deal with than others.

If formal action is taken or an appeal is lodged against the service of an enforcement notice, it could take several months to resolve the problem.

If you are the complainant we will keep you informed of progress.

The Planning Enforcement Team aims to:

• Acknowledge enforcement related enquiries within three working days either by telephone or letter
• Investigate the enquiries and visit the site in all instances within 10 working days
• Provide an interim response to enquiries within five working days of the site visit
• Notify the enquirer of any decision to take formal enforcement action within three working days of the decision.