Buckinghamshire Council takes successful planning enforcement action

A site that was being used for the unauthorised storage of reclaimed building materials (predominantly bricks and tiles) in Hyde End has now been cleared, thanks to successful planning enforcement action by Buckinghamshire Council.

The site – which is located between Chesham and Great Missenden – is next to a builders’ yard and sits in a sensitive site both in the Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

During 2019, Chiltern District Council refused planning permission for the site to be used to store building materials. This refusal was subsequently upheld at appeal. In June 2020, Buckinghamshire Council issued an enforcement notice against this use and required the cessation of the use and removal of items within six months.

Following correspondence with the site owners and operatives, a Buckinghamshire Council enforcement officer visited the site in July 2022 and found that the use had indeed ceased and that an enormous amount of building materials has been removed from the site.

Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, said:

“I’m pleased to see that our involvement and enforcement action in this case has had a dramatically positive effect on the site, and that the unauthorised use of this sensitive Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty site has now been brought to an end.

“We have a very successful track record of planning enforcement, which has led us to become the highest authority outside London for issuing Planning Enforcement Notices.”