A FULL review of Somerset Council’s planning enforcement service and its policies has been rejected by Liberal Democrat councillors who control the authority.

The opposition Conservative group had wanted a review with results to be reported back to councillors within six months.

They wanted to understand if enforcement powers were being used ‘appropriately and consistently’ and whether existing standards were sufficient or if additional measures needed to be put in place.

The council has been struggling to properly hold developers and landowners to account through its planning enforcement process and admitted earlier this year it was relying on agency staff from a Staffordshire authority to carry out much of the work.

Conservative Cllr Andy Dingwall said the council needed to take enforcement seriously to avoid further damage to its reputation in the eyes of the public.

Fellow Conservative Cllr Councillor Tom Power said: “Enforcement is becoming a toxic issue, and one we cannot get away from.

“Enforcement is so scarce that the people are not seeing it as a deterrent any more, and this is becoming a dangerous precedent to set.”

Another Conservative, Cllr Martin Wale, said enforcement had always been ‘a Cinderella service’ and a fairy Godmother was not going to appear with any review.

He said: “This situation should not be allowed to go on any longer.”

Lb Dem council leader Cllr Bill Revans agreed with Cllr Dingwall’s sentiments, but cautioned it could feed a ‘doom loop’ and said improvements were already being put in place.

Cllr Revans said: “We recognise enforcement is not where we want it to be.”

He said there were vacancies in the team, and some cases had been ‘incredibly complex’.

Cllr Revans said: “We have also had developers who are, quite frankly, testing the boundaries of what they can get away with in a system that is not able to respond.”