DORSET Council says it is dealing with a high number of enforcement cases – despite a claim by a senior councillor that the authority was 'toothless'.

One of the areas highlighted for the summer months is illegal campsites where ward councillors have complained that the sites have almost always closed before action could be taken.

Dorset Council say that so far this year the number of enforcement cases dealt with is broadly similar to previous years and likely, if the trend continues, to once again top 500 cases in the year – around ten cases each week.

A council spokesperson said: "The team deals with a wide range of issues, including unauthorised building work, changes of use without planning permission, unauthorised camping and holiday lets, and businesses operating outside their approved use. Officers also investigate breaches of planning conditions and legal agreements linked to developments.

"It is difficult to say whether cases are becoming more complex overall. However, changes to planning legislation and ongoing development pressures mean demand for the planning enforcement service remains high."

Dorset Council says that enforcement action is discretionary, not compulsory and that negotiated solutions are often preferred.

Councillors have been told in the past that most planning agents, often former council officers, know how to "play the system" and can delay enforcement action for months, or years, leading to a belief by some councillors that people are sometimes seen to 'get away with it' when it comes to ignoring planning rules.

But it not only affects planning, Littlemoor and Preston councillor Louie O'Leary recently accused the council of being reluctant to use its powers over keeping watercourses clear.

"We will do anything but use enforcement powers," he said during a recent debate about flooding.

Another councillor, Alderholt's David Tooke, chair of the eastern planning committee, said it was important to restore public confidence in enforcement, adding that he regularly heard people say: "there is no point to enforcement because what you do is just end up going along with whatever they have done."

During a debate on updating the council's enforcement policies, Tory opposition group leader Cllr Andrew Parry applied the 'toothless' label to the current system, whilst recognising that staff were doing the best they can within the rules and guidelines they have to work to.

He said that public confidence in the service was "fragile" citing his West Parley ward where cases failed to meet the threshold for action when each complaint was taken in isolation, but if considered together, should have seen action. "We are a bit toothless, if I can be blunt about it… to the extent we may been seen to not even care, when the reverse is true," he said at the time.

Cllr Parry said that people expected the rules to be upheld to maintain an orderly society: "There is a sense of frustration that even when enforcement comes in people will just kick the can down the road and it will rumble on for years, and in some cases, even for decades."

Other councillors have questioned whether the council allocates enough resources to enforcement and if the department has enough staff.

A 2024 review of the service referred to efficiency measures and the need for ongoing improvements.

A presentation in March 2025, said that an external audit found the enforcement processes operating at a good level and identified no urgent actions. It also records areas for improvement, including KPI measurement, legacy cases and inconsistencies in caseload monitoring and recording.

While planning applications and decisions are made public the council currently has no public list of live enforcement cases although the authority says it is working on plans to make details of enforcement notices available online.

The council say members of the public can view the enforcement notice register by arranging an appointment via [email protected]

The number of cases dealt with in recent years are 2023/24: 489; 2024/25: 594; 2025/26: 537 and to the start of August this year 206.