A MAN has been ordered to pay almost £2,500 after breaking planning laws over a period of six years.
Paul Smith was prosecuted by Malvern Hills District Council after failing to comply with two planning enforcement notices which related to separate offences.
He pleaded guilty at Worcester Magistrates’ Court on July 2 and was fined £1,440, ordered to pay £847.70 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
The first complaint about the 70-year-old, of Dunley Road in Stourport on Severn, was in 2009 when he built a home on his land. Planning officers told Smith the development was unauthorised and he had to apply for a certificate of lawfulness, which he did in December 2010.
It was refused and Smith appealed but this was turned down and a notice of enforcement was issued in September 2012. The council prosecuted as the property was still there in April of this year.
The second case was in September 2012 when Smith brought a mobile home onto his land which he rented out without planning permission.
A certificate of lawfulness was refused in January 2013 and an enforcement notice issued two months later. He failed to comply with this by December last year and was prosecuted.
Duncan Rudge, development control manager at the council, said: “We will not tolerate breaches of planning control where development is clearly contrary to local planning policy.
“We will pursue such cases for as long as is necessary in order to achieve a satisfactory conclusion and preserve the character and visual appearance of our rural areas.”
