Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Report a planning problem

If you have any concerns about building work, other development activity or illegal advertisement taking place near you which you don't believe has planning permission - report it to us and we'll investigate.

Submit a Planning Enforcement complaints form to complain about work near you.

We'll look into any complaint received. Reports are confidential but we'll need your details if you wish to be kept informed of the progress of your complaint.

What do we do?

We ensure that buildings in County Durham meet planning approvals and conditions and that land and buildings are kept in a satisfactory condition.

If there is a breach of planning control, untidy land and buildings, or illegal advertisements, action will normally only be taken where there is a clear adverse impact on the area.

What powers do we have?

We have a range of enforcement powers available to us including issuing Enforcement Notices. They outline required steps that have to be taken within a sufficient timescale. If this isn't complied with then we are able to take further action up to and including criminal prosecution.

More information

Our Planning Enforcement Protocol (PDF, 337 KB) lists the steps and actions we will take.

Contact Planning

Email planning@durham.gov.uk
Telephone 03000 262 830

Document downloads

Privacy notice - planning applications (PDF, 35 KB)(opens new window)