The process of taking someone to court for breaking planning laws can take up to five years, a Bradford Council planning boss has revealed.

The lengthy bureaucratic procedures needed to force people to stick to the laws were laid out to members of Bradford Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee this week.

Members heard that 153 enforcement notices were served by the Council last year - the highest number outside of London. There is also a backlog of 1,827 outstanding enforcement cases.

One councillor claimed the backlog could be helped if councillors discouraged people from making "petty" complaints about their neighbours to planning officers.

Chris Heaton, Planning Development Manager, told the committee, which met on Wednesday: "The enforcement notice figure of 153 is the highest number outside of London."

Figures released this month showed that the Council took just four people to court for breaking planning laws last year, and Mr Heaton added: "It doesn't mean we aren't doing work - we're often negotiating with people.

The figure of 1,870 outstanding cases is historically low, I remember about 10 years ago the figure was around 4,000."

When asked how long it can take for a enforcement complaint to make it to the courts, he said: "If we agree it is a breach, then we will challenge whoever is contravening planning law, giving them the option to make it right. We then have to give them time to do that.

"They then often submit a new planning application to make the breach legal. If that is then refused they have the chance to appeal. Only after that stage can we serve an enforcement notice, and after we issue that they have the right to appeal that, that appeal could take up to six months.

"By the time we get to a stage when we are able to prosecute them, it could be three, four or five years down the line.

"When it gets to the legal stage we then have to deal with barristers, and it can go as far as the High Court. That can all take a long time. A lot of time efforts to frustrate the process are put into place.

Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor): "I have full sympathy with someone who goes through the proper processes and then sees someone else put something up without permission.

"How many of these enforcement complaints fall of the cliff and just go nowhere?"

Mr Heaton said: "We have to take the public interest into account. Some cases are classed 'De Minimis' which means it isn't worth taking action as it is so minor. Sometimes we'll find out that the complaints are about things that are allowed. Often when we start action they will rectify it straight away. The further along the process we go, the more likely it is the person involved will put it right, and it will not need to go to court.

"The fact that we've issued 153 enforcement notices is worrying in a way, because it means these people don't wish to rectify what they have done. Each one of those notices is a serious contravention. It means that it is causing harm or annoyance to someone."

Councillor Simon Cooke (Cons, Bingley Rural) said: "It would be helped if we, as councillors, advised members of the public not to clog the enforcement service up with petty things.

"We need to take responsibility for often encouraging residents to use the planning enforcement service to punish people because they don't like what's happening next door. A lot of the time people will make a complaint against their neighbour building something they have every right to build, just because they don't like it. We need to be honest with the public about what planning enforcement can do. People think the system is there to come in and stop their neighbour from building a wall."