Somerset Council is currently relying on enforcement officers from a West Midlands local authority to address a growing backlog of planning breaches. The enforcement team plays a critical role in managing unauthorized building activities, improper land use, and violations of planning permissions, with the authority to impose fines or initiate prosecutions when necessary.
The council has faced ongoing recruitment difficulties in recent years, leaving more than 1,000 enforcement cases open and unresolved as of September 2025—a nearly 10% increase from the previous year.
In a recent strategic planning committee meeting held in Taunton, Chief Planning Officer Alison Blom-Cooper acknowledged this challenge, confirming that Somerset Council has engaged agency enforcement officers from a local authority located over 150 miles away. She stated, “We have appointed one additional agency enforcement officer to help reduce the current backlog. We are also recruiting permanent staff, with a new job advertisement planned for next week.”
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Blom-Cooper urged councillors and the public to submit enforcement complaints through the council’s online form to ensure all necessary information is collected for effective triage and prompt action. She added that inconsistent reporting formats have complicated the process.
Concerns about the cost-effectiveness of relying on agency staff were raised by Councillor Matt Martin, representing the King Alfred division, which includes several large villages such as Bridgwater, Cheddar, Glastonbury, Highbridge, and Wells. He questioned whether the agency’s results-based payment system might prioritize clients willing to pay more, potentially disadvantaging Somerset.
Blom-Cooper clarified that the agency, Lichfield West Midlands Traded Services, is wholly owned by Lichfield District Council in Staffordshire, and Somerset is the only authority in the southwest region using their services. She confirmed the agency actively seeks candidates within Somerset’s geographical area and that Somerset pays for results while continuing to offer competitive pay grades and retention allowances for permanent positions.
Looking ahead, the council is preparing its budget for the upcoming year, including a pay and grading review and an evaluation of recruitment incentives—a move aimed at attracting candidates to understaffed roles such as planning officers and social workers. When asked if increasing the budget to enhance recruitment offers had been considered, Blom-Cooper explained that recruitment and retention allowances had been significantly improved last year following benchmarking exercises. However, she noted that the enforcement team had yet to receive such allowances, identifying this as a priority area moving forward.