WINCHESTER civic chiefs have admitted they will be unable to chase up every breach of planning regulations.

Cllr Therese Evans told the overview and scrutiny committee she was concerned about a slackening of enforcing the rules.

Council leader Rob Humby said many outstanding issues needed to be dropped and priority given to fresh disputes.

“There has been a A-board outside a post office running for 15 years. Clearly there are more important issues than that. Sometimes time has moved on and it is no longer an issue.”

Steve Tilbury, corporate director, said: “We have to be honest we have certain levels of resources and lots of old cases.

“If we have an old case that is not going to be resolved better to clear it off, accept the position and make it clear the cases are closed. That way time is available for dealing with important more urgent ones. Just because it is old does not make it unimportant but we need to be practical and recognise our resources are limited.”