East Suffolk Council
Three fined for breaching planning enforcement notice
Three people have been sentenced after pleading guilty to breaching of an enforcement notice issued by East Suffolk Council.
Timothy William Johnson, Wyndham Johnson and Chris Brown appeared at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, February 1, to admit breaching an enforcement notice issued on April 1, 2019, pursuant to Part VII of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (‘the Act’) as amended by Part I of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991.
The enforcement notice related to the change of use of land, without planning permission, at Bridge Farm, Top Street, Martlesham, from a mixed use for agriculture and storage of cars and containers, to the storage of vehicles, containers, caravans, trailers, boats, digger buckets, lorry backs, bricks, building materials, pallets, wall insulation, scrap metal, metal drums, lorry trailers, rubbish, tyres, and other miscellaneous items not associated with agriculture.
Under Section 179(2) of the Act, it is an offence for an owner of land to be in breach of an enforcement notice, while under section 179(5) of the Act, it is an offence for a person with control of land to carry on any activity which is required by the notice to cease, or to cause or permit such an activity to be carried on. Upon conviction, a person guilty of an offence under section 179(2) is liable to a fine.
Two of the defendants, Timothy William Johnson, of Broomheath, Woodbridge, and Wyndham Johnson, of Foxhall Road, Ipswich, are the registered owners of the land, while the third defendant, Christopher Brown of Elm Road, Rushmere St Andrew, is a tenant and involved in the management of the land.
They had been required to permanently remove and cease using the land for the storage of items contained within the enforcement notice, and to return the land – with the exception of areas edged in blue on a map – to the condition it was before the unauthorised development taking place.
An appeal against to the enforcement notice was dismissed with some amendments by the Planning Inspectorate in a decision issued on July 20, 2020.
The notice should have been complied with by January 20, 2021, and a site visit undertaken on January 24, found that while a small area of the site had been cleared, the majority had not been, and the notice remained uncompiled with.
A three-month time extension, granted on January 26, required the enforcement notice to be complied with by May 26, 2021.
However, on Thursday, June 3, 2021, a senior enforcement officer and assistant enforcement officer visited Bridge Farm to check on the compliance of the outstanding planning enforcement notice, and upon entering, noticed that the requirements of the enforcement notice had not been complied with and the matter was passed to the council’s legal team to pursue further enforcement action.
Timothy and Wyndham Johnson were each fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs and a court surcharge of £190, while Christopher Brown was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £855 costs and a £100 court surcharge.
Following the sentencing, Cllr David Ritchie, East Suffolk Council’s Cabinet member for Planning and Coastal Management, said:
“We hope this sentence will serve as a reminder that enforcement notices are issued for good reason; to prevent unacceptable impact on the amenity of the area.
“All three defendants were given the opportunity to comply with the enforcement notice, but it was obvious to the visiting council’s officers that the notice had not been complied with.”