Renfrewshire Council

Planning permission is required for most development that takes place in Scotland. 

Sometimes, however, developers or householders undertake work without planning permission or fail to keep to the permission they have been given. 

Local councils have powers to act in such cases.

Renfrewshire Council will investigate breaches of planning control. These can include:

• Work being carried out without planning permission
• An unauthorised change of use
• Failure to comply with conditions attached to a permission or consent
• Departures from approved plans or consent
• Unauthorised works to protected trees

The purpose of planning enforcement is to resolve the problem rather than to punish the mistake.

Action can involve negotiating a solution, asking for a retrospective planning application to be made, or more formal action such as the issue of an enforcement notice or a breach of condition notice. 

Formal enforcement action will only be taken selectively and only where, in the opinion of the Council, the breach of planning control is significant and would unacceptably affect public amenity, public safety or the use of the land and buildings meriting protection in the wider public interest. The action must be proportionate to the breach. Only a small number of cases require formal enforcement action.

The Council has set down the procedures, its service standards, and contact details in its Charter for Planning Enforcement which can be viewed under the Related Documents Section on this page.

Please use the contact details below if you need further advice in respect of planning enforcement.