Stop notice and the compensation risk it carries
Section 183 allows a stop notice only where an enforcement notice has been issued. Section 186 then pays compensation if that notice is quashed on any ground other than the planning merits.
A stop notice in planning is the instrument that halts an activity before an enforcement notice bites, and it is the only enforcement power that routinely exposes the authority to a compensation claim. Section 183 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows one to be served only where an enforcement notice has already been issued and the authority considers it expedient that the activity should cease before the compliance period expires. Section 186 then provides for compensation if the enforcement notice falls for the wrong reasons.
That asymmetry is the whole of the tactical picture, and it is worth understanding from both sides of the counter.
What the notice does and when it can be served
A stop notice is parasitic on an enforcement notice. It must refer to that notice and have a copy of it annexed, and it can only prohibit an activity that the enforcement notice requires to cease or to be altered. No enforcement notice, no stop notice.
The notice specifies the date it takes effect. That date cannot be earlier than three days after service unless there are special reasons, which must be stated in writing and served with the notice, and it cannot be later than 28 days after service. Breaching a stop notice is an offence under section 187, with an unlimited fine on summary conviction, and the court is directed to have regard to any financial benefit arising from the offence.
Three statutory limits sit on the power. A stop notice cannot prohibit the use of a building as a dwellinghouse. It cannot prohibit the use of land as the site of a caravan occupied as someone's only or main residence. And it cannot prohibit an activity that has been carried on, continuously or not, for more than four years ending with the service of the notice, with the deposit of refuse or waste excluded from that protection.
The notice stops having effect when the enforcement notice is withdrawn or quashed, when the compliance period under the enforcement notice expires, or when the authority withdraws the stop notice itself.
Where the compensation liability comes from
Section 186 lists four triggers for compensation for loss or damage attributable to the prohibition.
The first is that the enforcement notice is quashed on grounds other than the ground that planning permission ought to be granted. The second is that it is varied, again other than on that ground, so that the activity is no longer part of the alleged breach. The third is that the authority withdraws the enforcement notice for a reason other than having granted permission. The fourth is that the stop notice itself is withdrawn.
Read the first trigger carefully, because it is the one that shapes behaviour. Ground (a) of section 174 is the planning merits argument: permission ought to be granted. If an appellant wins on ground (a), the authority pays nothing, even though the stop notice turned out to have halted something that was acceptable in planning terms.
Win on any other ground and compensation follows. No breach of planning control. The activity was immune. The matters alleged did not occur as stated. The notice was defective in a way the inspector could not correct. Each of those produces a liability.
There is one important reduction. Compensation is not payable for loss or damage that could have been avoided by giving the authority information it asked for, or by otherwise cooperating with it when responding to a planning contravention notice. A landowner who stonewalls a contravention notice and then claims for standing time has handed the authority an answer.
How this plays out in a decision
Authorities are cautious with stop notices for exactly this reason, and the caution shows in which cases attract one. Unauthorised waste deposits, mineral extraction, demolition of a building the authority wants retained, and operations that will cause irreversible harm within weeks are the usual candidates. Low-harm residential breaches almost never are.
Where an authority does serve a notice, the internal file will normally contain an assessment of the compensation exposure and a view on the strength of the enforcement notice. That assessment is disclosable, and worth requesting.
For an appellant the choice of appeal grounds therefore carries a financial dimension that has nothing to do with planning. An appeal pleaded on ground (a) alone, succeeding on the merits, produces a permission and no compensation. The same appeal pleaded on grounds (b), (c) and (d) as well, succeeding on ground (c) because the matters alleged do not constitute a breach, produces a quashed notice and a claim. The grounds are not interchangeable, and they should be chosen on the evidence rather than on the arithmetic. But the arithmetic is real.
An illustrative example
Take a site, illustrative only, where a contractor has begun stripping topsoil and importing material for a hardstanding on agricultural land, with no permission. The authority issues an enforcement notice alleging an unauthorised change of use to storage and requiring removal of the imported material, and serves a stop notice taking effect four days later prohibiting the importation and the use of the land for storage.
The operator appeals on ground (c), that the matters alleged do not constitute a breach, arguing the works are for agricultural purposes and fall within Part 6 of the General Permitted Development Order. If the inspector agrees, the enforcement notice is quashed on a ground other than ground (a), and the operator can claim for the plant standing idle, the labour, the subcontractor claims and the delay to the wider works.
If instead the operator appeals only on ground (a) and the inspector grants permission for the hardstanding, there is no compensation at all. The loss is the same. The outcome is not.
What a stop notice is not
A temporary stop notice is the power people usually mean when they say a council stopped the works. It comes from sections 171E to 171H of the 1990 Act, needs no enforcement notice behind it, and takes effect immediately on a copy being displayed on the site with a statement of reasons. The practical differences are set out in the note on temporary stop notices and stop notices, and the immediate effect is covered in temporary stop notice: immediate halt to works.
Two differences matter most. A temporary stop notice has a maximum duration, originally 28 days and extended by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to 56 days in England, so check the current position for your date. And there is no appeal against one. Judicial review is the only route, which makes the compensation provisions in section 171H the main remedy.
A stop notice is also not a breach of condition notice, which addresses non-compliance with a condition and carries no appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. It is not an injunction under section 187B, which is a court order with contempt consequences. And it is not a section 215 notice about the condition of land.
Checking the position for a site
On receipt of a stop notice, work through this in order.
- Confirm an enforcement notice exists, is annexed, and that the prohibited activity is one the enforcement notice addresses.
- Check the effective date against the three day minimum and the 28 day maximum, and whether a statement of special reasons was served where the date is early.
- Check the statutory exclusions: dwellinghouse use, residential caravan use, and whether the activity has been carried on for more than four years.
- Stop the activity anyway, on the effective date, while the points above are being tested. The offence is strict and the fine is unlimited.
- Start recording losses immediately: plant on hire and standing, labour, subcontractor notices, programme impact, finance costs. A compensation claim rises or falls on contemporaneous records.
- Take advice on the appeal grounds before pleading them, and respond fully to any planning contravention notice.
Where the better outcome is a permission rather than a quashed notice, the application needs to be prepared properly, which means a Planning Statement that engages with the policy objections rather than restating the history. And where the activity is one you intend to regularise, running the application alongside the appeal keeps both routes open.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. To see what a retrospective application at the site would need, enter your postcode on PlanScope.
Frequently asked questions
Can a stop notice be served on its own?
No. Section 183 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 permits a stop notice only where the authority has already issued an enforcement notice and considers it expedient that the activity cease before the compliance period expires. The stop notice must refer to that enforcement notice and have a copy annexed to it.
When does compensation become payable?
Under section 186, where the enforcement notice is quashed or varied on any ground other than that permission ought to be granted, where the authority withdraws the enforcement notice for a reason other than granting permission, or where the stop notice itself is withdrawn. Winning on the planning merits produces a permission but no compensation.
Can a stop notice halt residential occupation?
No. A stop notice cannot prohibit the use of a building as a dwellinghouse, nor the use of land as the site of a caravan occupied as someone's only or main residence. It also cannot prohibit an activity carried on for more than four years ending with service, except the deposit of refuse or waste.
How soon can a stop notice take effect?
Not earlier than three days after service unless there are special reasons, which must be stated in writing and served with the notice, and not later than 28 days after service. Contravening the notice once it is in force is an offence under section 187 carrying an unlimited fine on summary conviction.
Does a temporary stop notice carry the same compensation risk?
It has its own regime in section 171H, which applies in narrower circumstances. A temporary stop notice needs no enforcement notice, takes effect on display of a copy on site, and carries no right of appeal, so judicial review and the compensation provisions are the only remedies available to a landowner.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.