Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help prevent the practice of people avoiding enforcement action by submitting repeated retrospective planning applications for the same development in the event that previous retrospective applications for that development have been refused.

A person who has undertaken unauthorised development has only one opportunity to obtain planning permission after the event. This can either be by means of a retrospective planning application or by means of an appeal against an enforcement notice.

The local planning authority can decline to determine a retrospective planning application if an enforcement notice has previously been issued.