23.09.20

Planning Permission Required.

Chelmsford City Council have finally ruled that the use of the Hamptons as a place of worship does require formal planning permission. We are grateful for the clarification, and hope that the planning application is submitted quickly to enable a fair and full consultation by local residents.

We are disappointed that the council has declined to enforce against the planning breach, and our team are discussing how best to challenge this.

It is now nearly 10 weeks since we reported the breach, and we feel that the council’s response has been neither expediant or proportionate. Other enforcement cases we’ve found online have been enforced and temporary stop notices issued in a much shorter timeframe than this.

On average planning applications take a couple of weeks to submit, and 8-13 weeks to validate, consult and decide.

This would allow the planning breach to continue for possibly another four months , and this is simply not acceptable.

To allow a breach to continue unenforced for this length of time undermines the integrity of the planning process, and does not inspire confidence in the Planning Department.