Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 182c of the National Planning Policy Framework, what penalties can be imposed on developers that do not comply with agreed maintenance arrangements once the development is built.

Local planning authorities already have a wide range of planning enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance.

The government is clear that effective enforcement is important to tackle breaches of planning control, including enforcing SuDS maintenance arrangements which do not conform to the planning permission.

Where the local planning authority thinks that a condition imposed on a planning permission has not been met, they can serve a breach of condition notice, which requires the recipient to remedy the breach within a specified time. There is no appeal against such a notice and failure to comply with it is an offence punishable by an unlimited fine.

We have published guidance on the enforcement powers available to local planning authorities. I do not have plans to publish further guidance on enforcement at this time.