ENFORCEMENT actions are now taking months to process in Dorset – partially due to the effects of the pandemic.

In Dorchester one case has now been outstanding for 18 months.

Cllr Andy Canning told a council scrutiny committee that the delays to enforce planning issues were increasing and had been for some months.

“It needs more resources... For a small outlay it could make some difference,” he said.

The meeting also heard from Cllr Mark Roberts who said that town and parish clerks are often having to wait two months for information about enforcement issues in their area.

“I am struggling to explain to the parishes why it should take so long,” he said.

Planning portfolio holder Cllr David Walsh admitted that there had been ‘issues’ in dealing with enforcement as quickly as he would like.

He said that there were currently some vacancies in the department, which the council was advertising for, and explained that a backlog had built up because officers were unable to go out for site inspections due to safety restrictions, while some staff had been shielding which had also reduced capacity.

“I couldn’t get the public to understand this. Because they were out looking at sites they couldn’t understand why we couldn’t get our staff out,” he said.