Somerset Council has confirmed it has no money available to improve its planning enforcement team, as its projected budget shortfall for the next financial year grows to £40m. The admission comes after years of struggle to hold developers and landowners to account through the enforcement process, with the council having relied on agency staff from a Staffordshire district council since January.
Rising Case Loads and Triage System
A review of the enforcement service has revealed that the average number of cases per officer, whether in-house or agency, has risen from 155 in November 2025 to 169 in May 2026, an increase of just over nine per cent, which has been described as unsustainable. In response, the council introduced a triage system that has seen around 85 per cent of initial enquiries shut down without further investigation, with town and parish councils encouraged to handle lower-level matters themselves.
The review proposed investing an additional £475,000 to restructure and enhance the service, including £270,000 to recruit six more enforcement officers, £105,000 in one-off agency support to clear the backlog, and £100,000 for extra legal services. However, Chris Hall, the council's executive director for community, place and economy, said he could not sanction this spending given the council's wider budgetary constraints.
Officers Caught by Financial Position
Speaking at the climate, environment and place scrutiny committee meeting in Taunton on October 15, Mr Hall said: "Our officers are effectively caught by the financial position of the planning department, my department (community, place and economy) and the wider council. We are in an overspend situation in-year and we have a budget gap moving forward next year. There are not currently mitigations in place that bring any of those three that I've just described in on budget by the end of the year. Approving this will only add additional pressure both in-year and to the budget gap for next year – so we wouldn't be recommending that to you at this stage."
Bill Cotton, the council's interim service director for planning, acknowledged the "unhappiness" felt by residents and councillors over the lack of enforcement action, which has been voiced at numerous public meetings. He said: "I think we've got to the point at which we acknowledge that the enforcement service is not what we'd like it to be. There's a lot of unhappiness with councillors and members of the community who feel that the planning service is being undermined in terms of our control of the situation. We have got some proposals – but it's just a money problem. There is no money, so we are caught."
Councillors Call for New Revenue Streams
Councillor Norman Cavill (Conservative, Monkton and North Curry) argued that the council needed to find fresh revenue streams to fund the service properly. He said: "I think we need to look creatively at how do we get some extra money. There is no incentive for the developers to do things on time. We've had it in my patch with Persimmon for a long time, and we now have it with Bellway on the site that went to appeal in Creech St. Michael. They were told to put pavements, safety measures on the road and active travel routes before they built the houses, and they've just gone straight ahead and built houses. We really do need to address it, and we need to change how we raise money to assist enforcement."
Bellway Homes is currently delivering 100 homes at the Celtic Gardens estate on North End, situated between the M5 and existing properties in Creech St. Michael. Councillor Dave Mansell (Green, Upper Tone) said: "It's good to see the report – and then obviously it's not good to hear that the funding's not there. It's a high-profile service and the public see people getting away with things which they shouldn't – we do need to be on top of this. It's a bad look for the council and it's a bad outcome when enforcement is not being done as I'm sure you would all wish – so I do hope the funding's found."
Councillor Andy Dingwall (Conservative, Bridgwater East and Bawdrip) expressed his disappointment, saying: "My motion was voted down in the council chamber on the specific argument that the administration will put together a plan to deal with the backlog in planning enforcement. I don't think this is a step in the right direction. I don't think what we've got here is a plan, because there's no money to enforce it."
Lizzie Watkin, the council's chief financial officer, reminded councillors of the financial pressures ahead of the budget-setting process in February. She said: "We have £29m to find in this year – we have to look everywhere in terms of services stopping, cuts all over the place to be able to address that. We are still forecasting a £40m budget gap for next year. These are serious numbers that we have to tackle as an organisation – this needs urgent action and absolute focus on the organisation. I absolutely understand the want and the wishes, in terms of this being the right thing for our public and our communities to drive forward the right type of behaviours that we really want in our place. However, we have a massive financial strain on the organisation that has to be addressed first and foremost. Otherwise, we'll be in a position where those decisions aren't in our hands and that's the thing that we do not want to do."
