Temporary stop notices and how long they last

A temporary stop notice gives a council the power to halt an activity immediately, without first issuing an enforcement notice, and it now lasts up to 56 days in England rather than the 28 days the power originally allowed. The extension came through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. For neighbours watching unauthorised building work go up, it is the fastest tool the system has. For the person on the receiving end, it is the one enforcement notice with no right of appeal.

Both of those facts are worth understanding before you either ask for one or argue with one.

What a temporary stop notice does

The power sits in section 171E of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, inserted by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Where a local planning authority thinks there has been a breach of planning control and considers it expedient that the activity should stop immediately, it can issue a notice prohibiting that activity.

Three features define it. It bites at once, on display, rather than after a period for appeal. It is temporary, designed to buy the authority time to decide what to do. And it prohibits an activity rather than requiring anything to be put right, so it stops the digger but does not fill the hole.

Councils use it where damage is being done that cannot be undone: works to a listed building, felling of a protected tree, the laying of a hardstanding, engineering works in a flood plain, or a use starting up that would be very difficult to reverse once established.

How long it lasts and what changed

The notice specifies the period, which cannot exceed the statutory maximum. That maximum was 28 days when the power was created and was doubled to 56 days in England by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.

The practical effect of the extension is that authorities now have a realistic window. Under the 28-day limit, an authority often found that the notice expired before it had completed its investigation, taken a decision on an enforcement notice and obtained the necessary internal authorisation. Two months is enough to get an enforcement notice issued in most cases.

A second notice cannot generally be served in respect of the same activity unless the authority has first taken some other enforcement action. That restriction prevents a council rolling the power over indefinitely, and it is the reason the authority will usually be preparing an enforcement notice in parallel.

The statutory text has been amended more than once, so take the duration, the restrictions and the exceptions from the current consolidated version on legislation.gov.uk rather than from a summary. Reform in this area is tracked on the planning law timeline.

Activities that cannot be stopped

A temporary stop notice cannot prohibit everything. Section 171F and regulations made under it set out the limits, and the main ones are these.

• The use of a building as a dwellinghouse cannot be prohibited.
• Activities of a class specified in regulations cannot be prohibited, and those regulations have been amended since the power was created.
• An activity that has already been carried on for longer than the relevant statutory immunity period cannot be prohibited, other than building or engineering operations. That immunity period was changed by the 2023 Act as part of the move to a single ten-year rule for England, so check which period applies.

The dwellinghouse exception is the one most often raised by recipients and most often misunderstood. It protects the residential use of a building. It does not protect building works to that building, so a notice can stop an extension being built on a house that is lawfully occupied.

Service, display and validity

The procedure is short and the authority has to get it right.

The notice has to specify the activity prohibited, the period, and the reasons for issuing it. A copy has to be displayed on the site, together with a statement of the effect of the notice and of the offence of contravening it, and the notice takes effect from the date it is first displayed. It also has to be served on the person the authority believes is carrying out the activity, and on anyone else it considers has an interest in the land or is engaged in the activity.

Those requirements create the grounds on which recipients challenge. A notice that describes the prohibited activity too vaguely, that was never properly displayed, or that prohibits something outside the power, is open to challenge.

There is no statutory appeal. The remedies are to ask the authority to withdraw the notice, to apply for judicial review of the decision to issue it, or to comply and deal with the underlying breach. Judicial review is quick in this context only in the sense that the notice expires before most claims are heard.

Offences and penalties

Contravening a temporary stop notice is a criminal offence. The person who contravenes it, and anyone who causes or permits the contravention, can be prosecuted.

Conviction brings a fine, and in determining the amount the court is directed to have regard to any financial benefit that has accrued or appears likely to accrue from the breach. That direction matters on development sites, where the commercial value of pressing on can be substantial, and it is the mechanism that stops the fine being treated as a cost of doing business.

Each day the activity continues can be treated as a further offence in some circumstances, and prosecutions are brought by the local authority. A contractor on site is exposed as well as the landowner, which is why a responsible contractor will stop work on display of the notice regardless of what the client says.

Compensation and when it is payable

Compensation is available, narrowly, under section 171H. It is not a general remedy for loss caused by a notice that turns out to be unnecessary.

A person with an interest in the land at the time the notice is served may claim loss or damage directly attributable to the prohibition where one of the specified circumstances applies, broadly: the activity was not in fact a breach of planning control, or the notice is withdrawn other than because planning permission has been granted, or the authority fails to take further enforcement action within the relevant period.

Claims are subject to a time limit running from the end of the notice period, and they are made to the authority with disputes going to the Upper Tribunal. The existence of the compensation route is one reason authorities think carefully before issuing, and the narrowness of it is one reason recipients should not count on it.

Stop notices and injunctions compared

Three powers are often confused, and they work differently.

A temporary stop notice needs no prior enforcement notice, takes effect on display, lasts up to 56 days and carries no right of appeal.

A stop notice under section 183 can only be served alongside or after an enforcement notice, takes effect after a short minimum period, and continues until the enforcement notice is complied with or withdrawn. It carries a wider compensation liability, which is why authorities use it sparingly.

An injunction under section 187B is a court order, obtained by the authority from the county court or High Court, and breach is contempt of court. It is the power used where the breach is serious, deliberate and likely to continue.

For a neighbour reporting a breach, the point is that the temporary stop notice is the only one of the three that can be in place within hours. Report what you see with dates, times and photographs, and report it while the work is happening rather than afterwards.

What a recipient should do in the first week

If a notice has been displayed on your site, the sequence is simple and the timing is not negotiable.

1. Stop the prohibited activity immediately. Tell the contractor in writing and keep a record.
2. Read exactly what is prohibited. The notice stops a specified activity, not necessarily everything on site.
3. Photograph the notice and the displayed statement, and note the date and time you first saw it.
4. Get advice on whether the notice is valid and whether the activity is in fact a breach.
5. Contact the case officer and ask what the authority needs to resolve the position.
6. Decide on the substantive route: a retrospective planning application, a lawful development certificate application where you believe the works were already lawful, or reversing what has been done.

The second item is where people lose money unnecessarily. A notice prohibiting the erection of a structure does not prohibit making the site safe, and a notice prohibiting a use does not prohibit the building work for which permission exists. Read it and comply precisely rather than shutting down everything or carrying on regardless.

A retrospective application will need the same documents as any other, and the report types index shows what a scheme of your kind usually requires. A Planning Statement that addresses the breach honestly and sets out the planning merits is worth more than one that ignores how the application came about.

This is general guidance and not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works or a use are lawful.