A Dorset farmer has been fined for failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Willow Farm is located between Beaminster and Stoke Abbott and is in a protected area of countryside that falls within the Dorset AONB.
Owner Thomas Gibbs was first served notice by planning enforcement officers as far back as April 2008 after discovering he had built an unauthorised dwelling on the site.
The enforcement notice required the 69-year-old to cease the residential use of the land and to demolish and remove the structure.
But Mr Gibbs appealed the notice which resulted in temporary permission for the dwelling being granted on the condition it would be removed by February 2012.
Sometime before February 2012, the landowner then went on to build a further unauthorised barn-like structure which was deemed harmful to the AONB.
He applied for planning permission to retain the dwelling and barn but this was refused in September 2012.
A second enforcement notice was issued requiring residential use on the land to cease and the demolition and removal of the unauthorised buildings by June 2014.
A further appeal by Mr Gibbs was rejected and the second notice came back into effect requiring to him to comply by 23 January 2015.
He did not comply, and a follow up investigation by planning enforcement officers in 2017 found that the dwelling continued to be occupied in spite of the enforcement notice.
Further inspections took place in 2018 and 2019, by which time the offending had continued for over four years.
Following a court summons being served in April 2019 significant steps were taken by Mr Gibbs to comply with the enforcement notice.
Demolition of the dwelling has yet to take place however, because a bat roost had become established in the roof space of the building.
A licence has been granted by Natural England to allow the demolition to take place in a way that ensures the protection of the bats. This work is now expected to take place in the spring.
Mr Gibbs pleaded guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court on 5 August 2019 to an offence contrary to Section 179 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Sentencing took place on 13 January 2020 after being adjourned twice to enable the landowner to comply with the enforcement notice.
He was fined £1000 and ordered to pay the full amount of Dorset Council’s prosecution costs in the sum of £1,480. In addition a victim surcharge of £100 was ordered to be paid.
Mr Gibbs was told by the sentencing court that he could be prosecuted by Dorset Council again if he did not demolish the building as promised.
Cabinet member for planning, Cllr David Walsh said: “We have a duty to protect land which is part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“This case in particular shows how we use court proceedings as a last resort and where possible we will try to work with landowners to ensure planning law is respected and complied with.
“That said, we will not allow the integrity of the planning system to be undermined. We will take appropriate action to ensure that Mr Gibbs does not allow the demolition of the building to drift and delay.”
