Shropshire farmer fined £2,200 for failing to remove poly tunnel and caravan

Paul Trevor Martin, aged 54, of Wood View, Fenns Bank, in Whitchurch, Shropshire, admitted breaching an enforcement notice from July 17 when he appeared in court on Wednesday.

The notice had ordered both the tunnel and caravan be removed by August 30 of this year.

North East Wales Magistrates’ Court, which sits in Mold, was told Martin had already been prosecuted previously for the same reason.

On that occasion he had been fined £100 each after being charged with failure to remove them for an earlier period.

On Wednesday, magistrates fined £1,000 on each charge, as well as adding an additional £200 costs.

District Judge Gwyn Jones warned Martin that if they were not removed he would find himself back before the court once again. Martin, who represented himself, said he had been a tenant on a council-owned dairy farm but the authority had taken the farms back, which had seen him lose his livelihood.

Medicines

He owned the land at Wood View and was effectively starting again, he explained to the judge.

Martin also explained the caravan was used for agricultural purposes, such as for storing medicines and documents, which included animal passports and movement records. He said that the poly tunnel was used for lambing and was needed for animal welfare reasons as it reduced animal mortality.

Martin said he had a new planning application in with Wrexham council and he was currently awaiting a decision.

However, judge Jones told him he was not addressing the “mischief of the case”.

He explained that previous planning applications and appeals had been rejected and he was now in court for failing to move the objects as directed.

The other issues he raised were for the planning committee, he said.