Legal threat to landowner in Telford planning dispute

The council is considering action over land it says has been developed without consent.

Steve Holding, owner of S P Holding Group, renovated his land on Coalmoor Farm, near Horsehay, and was given 12 months to restore the land.

That date passed on June 7 and the council is now looking at its options.

The order stated he had to cease all engineering and excavation operations on the site and restore the land to its former condition with the same levels, contours and appearance of the adjacent land.

This was to include removing HGVs, tractors and trailers, commercial vehicles and machinery, portable toilets, caravans as living quarters, car parking, building materials and the scaffolding company operating from the site.

Russell Griffin, from Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “The enforcement notice compliance date was June 7, 2018, and all works were required to have been completed in full by this date.

"Following a recent site visit by our planning enforcement team, I can confirm very little of the required work has been carried out and the enforcement notice has not been complied with. Consequently, the owner and occupiers are currently in breach of the enforcement notice which is a criminal offence.

"We are currently considering the most appropriate course of legal action to take in order to ensure the notice is complied with as swiftly as possible.”

Mr Holding has previously insisted the company had disguised the works on the site and no neighbours had ever complained.

Clive Roberts, Mr Holding’s planning consultant, who appealed the order, said: “He’s currently moving vehicles off the site and he’s also tipping soil in the areas that need to be reinstated back to agricultural land.

“If you drove past the site I don’t think you’d even notice that there’s anything there but unfortunately the council took a different view and their view has prevailed.

“It won’t happen overnight, but we appreciate the notice has to be complied with.

“At the moment there’s another company that operates from the site and he’s got to tell them to move. I don’t know how this will effect them and it could put people out of jobs as it is hard to find suitable grounds for them to work from.

"But we’re currently still in negotiations with the council and we’re still hoping to compromise.”