Hertfordshire police boss calls for action after illegal development incidents

Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards has called for Government reform after recent alleged illegal developments were constructed in the county.

Specifically, the commissioner has raised concerns with incidents at Friendless Lane in Flamstead over Easter and Sheering Mill Lane in Sawbridgeworth over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Dacorum Borough Council obtained a High Court injunction preventing unauthorised construction work from taking place at the Flamstead site in July.

A High Court heard how it was alleged that criminal damage, and the illegal felling of trees took place at the site in April.

An injunction was also obtained in Sawbridgeworth over alleged illegal digging on the site this August. East Hertfordshire District Council obtained the legal order after, according to a BBC report, hundreds of protesters had visited the site to object to the alleged illegal activity.

In response to these incidents the commissioner has written to the secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, calling for an urgent strengthening of planning enforcement laws.

His office says that both incidents in Hertfordshire involved large quantities of aggregate and building materials being used on land alongside heavy machinery. The PPC says that ‘extensive groundworks’ were undertaken which caused considerable concern among residents.

Commissioner Ash-Edwards said the incidents highlight how police officers attending the scene have very limited powers to intervene simply because the development itself is unauthorised.

He is calling for a new ‘72-hour emergency stop power’ which would allow officers to halt substantial development and potentially arrest offenders.

Commissioner Ash-Edwards also wants officers to have the power to hand out temporary stop notices. He is also calling for the creation of a new criminal offence, ‘aggravated intentional unauthorised development’, it would cover

those who knowingly carry out major works with the intention of circumventing planning enforcement – including deliberately beginning rapid development over weekends and bank holidays.

Commissioner Ash-Edwards said: “What we have seen in Hertfordshire exposes a glaring weakness in our planning laws. People can arrive on a site with heavy machinery, aggregate and building materials and begin fundamentally altering our countryside without planning permission. Police officers can be standing there watching it happen but have no powers to tell them to stop. That cannot be right.

“Residents in Flamstead saw this at Easter and communities around Sawbridgeworth have now experienced similar concerns over the Bank Holiday weekend. People understandably ask why something so substantial can happen so quickly while the authorities appear powerless to intervene.

“There is a particular problem when major works begin over a weekend or Bank Holiday. By the time the planning system catches up, the landscape may already have been fundamentally changed.

“I don't want police officers becoming planning officers. Planning enforcement rightly sits with our councils. But there needs to be an emergency brake for the most serious cases.

“That is why I am proposing a tightly defined power allowing police to stop substantial works for up to 72 hours, backed by a power of arrest. That doesn't decide whether a development should ultimately be allowed, it simply freezes the situation long enough for the council to investigate and exercise its planning powers.

“I also want much stronger consequences for those who deliberately game the system. If someone knowingly waits for a Bank Holiday, arrives with heavy machinery and carries out rapid, substantial works specifically to get ahead of enforcement, I believe that should become a criminal offence.

“The principle is straightforward, nobody should be able to game the planning system by ripping up our countryside first and asking for permission later.”