MORE than 1,000 complaints about breaches of planning rules were lodged with Bradford Council last year, new figures show.

The authority’s planning enforcement team received 1,467 complaints about a total of 1,155 different sites across the district, a new report going before a scrutiny committee this week shows.

The team investigates allegations of unauthorised construction work or use of buildings, adverts displayed without consent, breaches of planning conditions, unauthorised works to protected trees and unauthorised work on listed buildings.

The new report, by planning manager Ian Horsfall, says most complaints come from members of the public, councillors, town councils or other interested groups, though some unauthorised developments are spotted by officers while they are out and about.

He says it is not an offence in planning law to start work without permission but a person does so at his or her own risk, as retrospective permission may or may not be granted.

If the work is found to be unauthorised, and is not either reversed or granted permission retrospectively, formal enforcement action is begun.

This happened in 304 cases in 2015.

The department also began magistrates’ court proceedings in 17 cases in 2015. All of the cases heard by magistrates so far have been won by the council, the report says.

Mr Horsfall’s report warns that “formal investigations and legal proceedings can often be time consuming and frustratingly lengthy”.

It says: “It is important to remember that enforcement action is not an instantaneous remedy to breaches of planning control.

“Enforcement action will only be taken if all other negotiations have failed, and the council considers it expedient to take action to remedy the breach of planning control.”

Some enforcement cases are dealt with quicker than others, the report says.

Cases where health and safety may be compromised, those involving listed buildings, those in conservation areas or sites along main transport corridors are dealt with “more speedily”, the report says.

Alternatively, cases involving domestic sheds, garages or fences and those involving satellite dishes are among those which are not routinely investigated, but are instead placed on a register.

The figures will be discussed by the council’s regeneration and economy overview and scrutiny committee when it meets at City Hall tomorrow.