Bromley Council has recovered over £226,000 since 2021 through Proceeds of Crime (POCA), according to a recent report discussed at the Development Control Committee meeting on Thursday. The funds were obtained through extensive and complex work undertaken by the council's Planning Investigation Team.
The council hopes to bring neglected properties back into productive use, which will be of overall benefit to Bromley and its residents.
The Planning Investigation Team investigates all allegations of breaches of planning control across the borough. According to the Planning Enforcement Actions Progress and Monitoring Report April 2024 to March 2025, the most common types of planning enforcement enquiries received are operational development (building work without planning permission), untidy sites, and change of use (change of building or land use without planning permission). The breakdown of enquiries received between April and September 2025 shows operational development accounting for 32%, change of use for 18%, and untidy sites for 16%.
The team also investigates:
- Non-compliance with conditions attached to an approved scheme (Breach of Condition)
- Unauthorised advertisements (Adverts)
The council has a statutory duty to investigate all planning enforcement enquiries, but they are given discretionary powers as to whether when to instigate formal enforcement action in each individual case. In each and every individual case an expediency test/assessment is carried out before considering instigating any further formal enforcement action. The council liaises closely with their legal department to obtain clear advice as part of the expediency test. This ensures that they are taking appropriate action on all enforcement matters at any given time, and helps to avoid the risk of the Council being liable for costs if an appeal is allowed by the Planning Inspectorate and the Council is found to have acted unreasonably.
According to the Planning Enforcement Actions Progress and Monitoring Report April 2024 to March 2025, the Planning Investigation Team has been proactive in investigating breaches of planning control. As part of this approach, Enforcement Warning Letters may be issued as a formal initial step when a potential breach of planning control is identified. These letters outline the nature of the alleged breach and provide an opportunity to resolve the matter voluntarily.
Direct action will inevitably incur costs. Therefore, the Council will obtain quotes to carry out works in default of a Section 215 notice. To recover these costs, the Council may place a charge on the property or land, including applicable interest, until the debt is fully paid. Alternatively, the legal owner may opt to pay in instalments, arranged through our collections and billing service via Liberata. Where debts remain unpaid, the Council may consider the enforced sale of the property or land to recover the full amount.
In some enforcement cases, the Council has already taken formal action or is in the process of doing so, with legal proceedings either underway or being considered. When a property owner fails to comply with enforcement notices, especially after direct action has been taken, the Council may recover the costs by initiating an enforced sale. This means the Council can legally sell the property to reclaim the money spent on enforcement, such as clearing an untidy site or addressing unauthorised development. This approach ensures that public funds used for enforcement are recovered, and it also helps bring neglected properties back into productive use.
One recent example involves a property on Queens Road, Beckenham, where a decision was made to recover the cost of direct action taken by the team. An external company was engaged to assist with debt recovery, which prompted the property owner to sell the property and thereby enable the Council to recover its costs. We intend to continue using this approach to recover further outstanding debts and bring these much-needed properties back into use, which will be of overall benefit to Bromley and its residents.
Since 2020, the council has received 5047 cases, broken down as follows:
- 2020 = 913 cases
- 2021 = 985 cases
- 2022 = 876 cases
- 2023 = 785 cases
- 2024 = 797 cases
- 2025 = 691 cases (to date)
The Proceeds of Crime (POCA) received since 2021 include:
- Babbacombe Road: £86,000 was spent towards two temporary Investigation officers (2021) after the earmark reserves had finished.
- Widmore Road: £110,000 (2024)
- Land at Swanley Bypass: £50,000 legal cost paid and £30,000 Confiscated and ringfenced for Planning Enforcement (2025)
Confiscated funds received through Proceeds of Crime (POCA) are ringfenced for Planning Enforcement. For example, £86k from Babbacombe Road was spent towards two temporary Investigation officers (2021) after the earmark reserves had finished.
The Planning Enforcement Actions Progress and Monitoring Report April 2024 to March 2025 was presented to the Public Protection and Enforcement Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee, the Renewal, Recreation and Housing PDS Committees and Development Control Committee.