A Dorset landowner has been prosecuted and fined after failing to rectify a serious breach of planning control within the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Robert George Coles of Broad Oak Farm, East Melbury, Shaftesbury, pleaded guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court on 5 August 2019 to an offence contrary to S179(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Significant excavation works discovered
Planning enforcement officers discovered significant excavation works had taken place at Broad Oak Farm, located at the base of Zig Zag Hill in Melbury Abbas, in October 2014.
The works, which caused ground levels to change as a result of the spreading of excavated spoil, affected 3,700 square metres of the 150,000 square metre farm.
The council informed Mr Coles that the excavation and resultant works taking place were not permitted development, but were an unauthorised engineering operation that required planning permission.
Chances to remedy works not taken
Prior to an enforcement notice being served in October 2018, Mr Coles twice made promises to the council that he would rectify the breach and return the land to its former condition. But he failed to do so.
Mr Coles was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay the full claim for prosecution costs in the sum of £1,323, making a total of £4,123. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30.
The sentencing magistrate said that the offence was particularly serious because the unauthorised development was in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and because so much time that had passed without the situation being remedied.
Dorset Council Cabinet Member for Planning, Cllr David Walsh said:
“I would like to thank our planning control officers for conducting an excellent investigation and working with our legal team to bring this case to a successful conclusion.
“Court proceedings are a last resort and we always try to work with landowners to remedy planning breaches when possible.
“However we have a duty to protect Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and we will address breaches to ensure the integrity of the planning system is not undermined.”
More information about planning enforcement, including how to report a possible unauthorised development, is available on Dorset Council’s website www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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