Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997

140 Stop notices

(1) Where the planning authority consider it expedient that any relevant activity should cease before the expiry of the compliance period in respect of an enforcement notice, they may, when they serve the copy of the enforcement notice or afterwards, serve a notice (in this Act referred to as a “stop notice”) prohibiting the carrying out of that activity on the land to which the enforcement notice relates, or any part of that land specified in the stop notice.

(2) In this section, “relevant activity” means any activity specified in the enforcement notice as an activity which the planning authority require to cease and any activity carried out as part of that activity or associated with that activity.

(3) A stop notice may not be served where the enforcement notice has taken effect.

(4) A stop notice shall not prohibit the use of any building as a dwellinghouse.

(5) A stop notice shall not prohibit the carrying out of any activity if the activity has been carried out (whether continuously or not) for a period of more than 4 years ending with the service of the notice; and for the purposes of this subsection no account is to be taken of any period during which the activity was authorised by planning permission.

(6) Subsection (5) does not prevent a stop notice prohibiting any activity consisting of, or incidental to, building, engineering, mining or other operations or the deposit of refuse or waste materials.

(7) A stop notice shall specify the date when it is to come into effect, and that date—

(a) must not be earlier than 3 days after the date when the notice is served, unless the planning authority consider that there are special reasons for specifying an earlier date and a statement of those reasons is served with the stop notice, and

(b) must not be later than 28 days from the date when the notice is first served on any person.

(8) A stop notice may be served by the planning authority on any person who appears to them to have an interest in the land or to be engaged in the relevant activity specified in the enforcement notice.

(9) The planning authority may at any time withdraw a stop notice (without prejudice to their power to serve another) by notice which shall be—

(a) served on all persons who were served with the stop notice, and

(b) publicised by displaying it for 7 days in place of all or any relative site notices.