A father and son have been fined following a recent prosecution brought by Stratford-on-Avon District Council for failing to comply with two Enforcement Notices.
In sentencing, the Bench confirmed it had given full credit for the guilty pleas and Philip Scott and Stephen Scott of Hunger Hill, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire were fined £3,300 each at Coventry Magistrates Court last week and both ordered to each pay £900 costs. They were also required to pay a £170 victim surcharge.
The Enforcement Notices were issued by the District Council on 19 May 2017 and were both upheld at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate on 12 March 2018. The notices related to storage, repair and maintenance of vehicles from the home address at Hunger Hill and also the storage of vehicles on adjoining paddock land in the Green Belt. The notices should have been complied with by 12 June 2018.
In mitigation, it was submitted that the Scotts had made efforts to reduce the number of vehicles and there were now only 12 to 15 present.
The Magistrates also commented that the area in the Green Belt land needs clearing as soon as possible.
Cllr Anne Parry, Regulatory Portfolio at Stratford District Council said: "This is an important case that gives local people confidence that when there are serious breaches in planning regulations that the District Council will act on their behalf when it is right to do so."
An Enforcement Notice is served to require the landowner to remedy the harm caused by the breach of planning control, and failure to comply with the notice is a criminal offence with unlimited fines.
