Failure to comply with planning enforcement notices sees man fined £250k

A Doncaster man has been ordered to pay more than a quarter of a million pounds in fines and costs for what a judge described as a “flagrant breach” of planning law.

Nigel Smith, 57 of Manor Farm in Moss, pleaded guilty to breaching enforcement notices issued by Doncaster Council in 2011 and 2012.

In 2009 the defendant had laid hard core to form a compound on a green field site.

Smith brought in a residential caravan and later added portable offices for businesses linked to the site. A number of shipping storage containers were also located on the land.

The defendant did not obtain planning permission for any of these steps.

Doncaster Council served an enforcement notice requiring him to stop the activities. Smith appealed but the notice was upheld.

However, the defendant failed to comply, prompting the local authority to take him to court.

Smith was fined £2,000 but continued his operations at the farm in contravention of the enforcement notice.

Earlier this week he was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court of breaching the enforcement notice on five occasions.

Mr Recorder Hubbard QC fined Smith £250,000 and warned him that he would face a prison sentence of two years if this sum were not paid within 30 days.

The judge said it was "difficult to imagine such a flagrant breach in defiance of the enforcement notices”.

The defendant was also ordered to pay the local authority's costs of more than £13,500.

Peter Davies, Mayor of Doncaster, said: "I am pleased with this result. It sends a clear message that Doncaster Council will not tolerate people using land for unlawful and inappropriate purposes. We will always seek to prosecute in these cases."