Neighbour issue. Does anyone work in council planning department?

[Origamiheaven]

looking for some advice. 15 years ago, we purchased approximately 10 square metres of land at the bottom of our garden from a closed down sport ground to extend our garden. land registry deeds updated and had to apply for change of use to residential garden. Fences erected to define new boundary. Neighbours in adjoining property (semi detached) have over the previous 4 years encroached onto the land behind them (using my fences as the boundary) in effect doing what we have legally done. They have also erected a large shed and bike storage and basically landscaped the land to the same 10 meter depth. They defo have not purchased the land and she thinks this is ok. I am irritated by this and in 2 minds whether to report to the council as a breach of planning. How much detail would I need to provide and how sensitive would they be to keeping my anonymity. I have a timeline of the changes made and also old Google images showing the original boundary fence.. what wud you do??

Get in to any form of dispute and you may need to declare it.

So she realises it’s you and then wants retaliation, she complains to the council about anything and then even if settled as complete nonsense you have to declare. A tit for tat situation.

Planning Enforcement is CONFIDENTIAL. There is no scenario where the NDN to ever know who reported them unless you tell them.
I see situations every day where multiple neighbours (often not living directly next door as well) report the same issue, so there is very rarely a definite person to blame.
Submitting a planning enforcement report alone does not start a neighbour dispute.

This is not true, if it goes to appeal it can be revealed in court who made the complaint and it is likely to be the case. It is confidential until appeal and court. Then it is highly likely not to be the case.

plus vexatious complaints like this the council don’t like, I know when my neighbours complained about me, when I asked they said it was confidential. When I asked if it was the twats next door, the planning officer nodded, then gave me advice on how to make them stop.

but to say it is confidential all the way through is erroneous. All councils are clear if it goes to appeal it can be revealed.

I would leave it up to the legal landowners to take up the case, or not.

I too would be irritated about it, but it's not your legal fight to engage in.

What a nasty post

So then the neighbours get free land after so many years by adverse possession yet OP had to pay for it? Why is that fair???

Yes I would mention it to the Council. What will probably happen is that a surveyor will come out to inspect and they may offer to sell the land to them at the going rate. If they refuse then they will be made to take down all structures and return the land to its previous condition.

Happens a lot with council land!

In your opinion! At no point is this about doing the right thing or protecting someone. This is personal bitterness, I happen to dislike hypocrites like that. People really need to put as much focus into their own lives as they do to others.

I'd be very surprised if council enforced against this. Most councils have limited resources to do so and even greater breaches get overlooked. Best may be a letter asking for a retrospective application. You could contact the landowner to see if they would be interested in making a complaint.

She’s a CF having declined to buy it but now just using it as hers anyway. I’d be pissed off but leave her to it knowing no one can take my garden but her situation is not secure.

Councils definitely take such matters seriously as allowing encroachment would be giving away what is essentially public land.

I have experienced this in my line of work.

Planning department probably a waste of time. especially as it doesn’t really affect you.

If you really want to you could notify who you bought your land from and then leave it up to them to see if they pursue the matter

When she comes to sell there will be an issue in that the deeds will reveal that she doesn't own it.
Also if she refused to buy it, then adverse possession may not apply.
She'll lose out eventually.

If the land owner isn't bothered then that's that. They could easily disposess your neighbour of the land if they wanted to, if they are aware of it. Adverse possession isn't illegal.

Is it public land? Or private?

Absolute rubbish, the land now has an unauthorised use as residential garden and therefore there are no permitted development rights for sheds etc. You can report them to the enforcement team in the planning department. Whether you really want to and cause a neighbour dispute is an entirely different matter!

Oh and it's not planning department you need, it's assets or whatever your council call it.
Here's a useful PDF as to what action a council may take

democracy.blackburn.gov.uk/Data/Executive%20Member%20Decisions/20160212/Agenda/Document%208.pdf

Does the landowner know its happening?

@Fencehedge
Assumed it was public as it was a sports field

Like you did when you checked your work systems to see if your neighbour had permission to drop his kerb? Hope you don't work for my LA.

This would irritate me, why should you do things properly, pay your money, get permissions needed etc. and cf neighbour just takes the land.

I would do what you can to find the land owner.

I didn’t check work systems at all, the information is public and available to anyone 24 hours a day.

Once the council is informed, they also have a duty to the public to protect from adverse possession.

All those saying it's none of her business, it really is if it's public land (that we all pay for). Imagine if all the neighbours did this along a street and gradually over the years encroached onto a field at the back, soon the field would be smaller and less land would be available for public good.

This makes you sound incredibly petty and vindictive. None of this affects you.

@Onceachunkymonkey if what happened to you is true, then the officer that told you who reported you made a huge error and could get in real trouble. That is just not how things are done. And yes, in the very extreme event that an enforcement case such as this made it to prosecution or court, you could be called as a witness/revealed, but this is a waaay off scenario, and if it got to it, they do actually ask your permission, which you can withdraw, so yes, it absolutely can be confidential.
Almost every enforcement case (if it even gets as far as any action at all) results in simply asking the owner to regularise the breach, ie apply for planning permission. The owner then does this (usually with minimal fuss, it's most often the case that they just didn't realise that it needed it), the application hopefully gets approved, and everyone moves on happily, no drama or disputes necessary.