Work has taken place to clear a backlog of planning enforcement cases across Lichfield and Burntwood.
A week-long blitz saw Lichfield District Council officers work to clear 200 unresolved issues which had built up over the past year.
The backlog included developments not confirming to planning conditions, unauthorised building use and the incorrect positioning of boundary fencing.
Artemis Christophi, who leads the planning department at Lichfield District Council, said:
“We processed cases in the same way as we normally would, but by having more officers working together on this service, we were able to substantially reduce the caseload.
“This will help us improve processing speeds and our response times in the weeks ahead.
“We are also putting in place measures to prevent a similar build-up of cases in the future.
“We wish to thank residents for their patience and understanding while this clearance work took place.”
Artemis Christophi
The backlog blitz saw the council’s entire planning department focus on reducing the number of outstanding enforcement cases from nearly 400, down to 199.
Cllr Alex Farrell, Lichfield District Council’s cabinet member for housing and the Local Plan, said:
“Planning enforcement is an important service and I applaud the work our officers did last week in coming together to cut the backlog of cases by around half.
“We encourage any resident with a planning complaint or query to email devcontrol@lichfielddc.gov.uk.”
Cllr Alex Farrell, Lichfield District Council
