"TOOTHLESS" – the description from one senior councillor about council action against people who breach planning rules in Dorset.

Others have spoken of the frustration of seeing people get away with doing as they like with action against them dragging on for years or even decades.

The manager of the enforcement service at Dorset Council admits that his staff, among the most threatened at the authority, are sometimes working with one hand tied behind their backs.

Darren Hobson has told councillors that his team have to keep within strict guidelines. He says in almost every case the council has to negotiate, whether it likes it or not, rather than take direct action, with the rules weighted in favour of the individual.

He told of planning agents, often former council planning staff, who knew how to legally delay or stop enforcement action being taken against their clients.

Councillors were told that for some breaches, including chopping down trees which are protected, the processes which have to be gone through, and lack of immediately available staff, mean that in many cases the chain saws continue to run until it is too late.

Chickerell councillor Gill Taylor said that in most cases where unauthorised campsite pop-up by the time the council is notified and takes action the summer season is almost over before there is a chance for enforcement to take place.

Cllr Simon Gibson said he had a couple of cases in his Verwood ward, one of which had been going on for four year: "We seem to be stuck in a holding pattern and too often enforcement has one hand tied behind its back if people know how to use the system," he said, adding that far too many people were using 'tricks' to delay and avoid action against them.

Councillors were also told that there are few checks on whether planning applications which have been decided are carried out as they should be – with the council relying on local councillors or the public to lodge a complaint.

Conservative 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 public confidence in the service by the public 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 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."

The comments came during a discussion on an update to the council's enforcement action plan, which has been re-written to make it easier to understand.

Portfolio holder for planning at the council, Wimborne councillor Shane Bartlett, said he agreed some people saw the service as toothless.

"It is a frustration with officers and some councillors that enforcement doesn't necessarily have the legal direction that it needs. It needs a change from the Government – that's where lobbying needs to be done to ensure that local authorities have more power than they currently have," he said.

Cllr Sherry Jespersen said the problem was compounded by residents believing the council had more power than it actually had – with most not understanding how the system worked, which she said was down to a failure in communication by the council. She said in many cases the action people expected was not a planning enforcement issue at all, but came under other council departments.

At the end of the discussion executive director of the planning service, Matt Piles, said he had been saddened by the comments and would reflect on how the service could become better in the eyes of the public.

"The planning enforcement team do a tremendous job under huge pressure and we do enforce to the point where we go to the courts, but it's not something we shout about and we have to be sensitive," he said.