Buckinghamshire County Council Visit www.buckscc.gov.uk/democracy for councillor information and email alerts for local meetings Development Control Committee Title: Enforcement Update Report th Date: 30 October 2012 Author: Planning Manager Contact officer: Richard Jenkins – 01296 387377 Electoral divisions affected: All Recommendation: The Planning Development Control Committee is invited to ENDORSE the actions set out below for the respective sites and to AUTHORISE actions where specifically requested. Resources Appraisal: Enforcement of waste and minerals sites is labour intensive and involves a significant amount of PACS and Legal Services officers’ time, particularly in legally complex cases where there are appeals and prosecutions or frequent monitoring is required. Sites have to be prioritised generally following the principles set out in the authority’s Planning Enforcement Policy agreed at the 27 April 2004 Committee meeting. BACKGROUND PAPERS Enforcement Policy - 27 April 2004 Development Control Committee Report SUPPORTING INFORMATION 1. The following summary of enforcement cases is set out in district and chronological order. The number after each site name refers to its current enforcement priority, (I) being top priority and (III) lowest priority. AYLESBURY VALE Riverside Farm, Pitchcott (II) Issue: 2. The ongoing importation, deposit, disposal and burning of waste including construction waste and green waste on agricultural land. Actions Taken: 3. An Enforcement Notice was served prohibiting the unauthorised use of the land, and requiring the remediation of the land affected. Direct Action was taken to remove the waste and restore the land in compliance with the Enforcement Notice. The landowner was prosecuted for breaching the Enforcement Notice. Further reports of ongoing breaches are still being received. Repayments of the costs awarded during the prosecution of the landowner, and the costs associated with taking Direct Action (which together totals over £30,000) are ongoing. However at current repayment rates full recovery of the costs would take over 100 years. Therefore, officers have applied to the Courts to combine both debts as a Land Charge, and thereafter take ownership of the land and prepare it for sale, which may include the removal of more waste from the site. The Council will then be able to recover the costs it is owed from the sale of the land, with the landowners receiving the remainder. Future Actions: 4. It is expected that the Land Charge will be in place by mid-November, with the preparation and sale of the land taking place thereafter. Officers are also liaising with the District Council as they are taking action against the landowners for separate offences. Rowden Farm, Mentmore (I) Issue: 5. The importation of approximately 55,000 cubic metres of construction and demolition waste, and waste soils to agricultural land and a former compound area. Actions Taken: 6. An Enforcement Notice was served as the landowner failed to regularise the unauthorised importation of a large quantity of waste following protracted negotiations. The Notice was appealed on the ground that the time given to comply was too short but the appeal was withdrawn following further negotiation, with the period for compliance extended. A planning application for the retention of the waste and utilising it in the creation of a nature reserve was refused, with the refusal appealed. The appeal was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate. 7. The landowner submitted a further planning application for the temporary storage of the waste for three years, but this was also refused. The Committee requested during the previous Enforcement Update Report that officers continue to negotiate a resolution to this matter and an update be provided at this Committee meeting. 8. Since that meeting, officers have continued dialogue with the landowner to attempt to seek a resolution to this matter. This culminated in a meeting between officers and the landowner and his planning and landscape advisors. At this meeting, the landowner explained his strategy for regularising the matter. He explained that an application will be made to the District Council to vary the conditions of an extant permission relating to agricultural buildings on the land, for the retention of part of the material as a screening bund. A separate application will be made for the use of part of the material as a water management facility. The remainder of the waste will be removed over the next four years. 9. The landowner was tasked with progressing these applications with the District Council in a timely fashion, and to report on progress to County Council officers. Since the meeting, the landowner has not been in contact. Future Actions: 10. Officers have been requested to attend a Parish Council meeting to explain the County Council’s position on this matter as they have been extensively lobbied by the landowner. An officer will attend the next meeting, to set out the Council’s position in full. Officers will also continue to liaise with the landowner to ensure the required planning applications are made in a suitable timescale. 11. The Committee has authorised a criminal investigation into the beach of the Enforcement Notice, with a view to prosecuting the landowner. However, the Committee has also signalled it’s preference to resolve this matter without the use of further legal action. The Committee is invited to provide officers with a steer on future actions should these applications not be forthcoming, or should the applications be unsuccessful. Chiltern View Nursery, Weston Turville (III) Issue: 12. The commencement of a development without the prior submission and approval of details and schemes required by conditions attached to a planning consent. Actions Taken: 13. Officers have undertaken extensive negotiations with the operator and his agent, which have resulted in the submission of the details and schemes required, and also supplementary information to assist assessment of these. The information has been sent out for consultation with the relevant consultees. Future Actions: 14. Should the consultees approve of the submissions, officers will discharge the conditions they relate to. In this circumstance there will be no need to take further action. Should the submissions not be approved, officers will liaise with the operator and his agent to ensure appropriate details and schemes are submitted within a reasonable timeframe. Should this not occur, officers will need to consider the expediency of further enforcement action. Land opposite Poundon House, Poundon (II) Issue: 15. The importation of waste to agricultural land for the purposes of burning to heat a residential property. Actions Taken: 16. The complainant has been contacted and at his request a meeting has been arranged to discuss the alleged breach of planning control. Future Actions: 17. The site will be inspected to substantiate the allegation. If a breach of planning control is identified, the landowner will be contacted and officers will commence negotiations to regularise it. Resolved: Bourton Road, Buckingham 18. The importation of soils to this agricultural land for the backfilling of test-trenches dug for archaeological purposes was found to be de minimis due to the scale and duration of the development, and the suitability of the material for the purpose it was being used. Bailey’s Farm, Grendon Underwood 19. The importation of construction waste to renovate a hardstanding on agricultural land was found to be permitted development. The case was referred to the District Council for their investigation as the landowner had not given the required prior notification. Denham Brook Farm, Pitchcott 20. It was alleged that green waste was being imported to this agricultural holding for disposal by burning. However, it was found that the waste was being imported for composting, with that product being used on the farmland. Green waste had been collected from around the holding and burned. Neither of these activities were found to be breaches of planning control. CHILTERN Brockhurst Brickfield, Lye Green (II) Issue: 21. The ongoing breach of an Enforcement Notice requiring the removal of unauthorised imported and deposited waste from a former quarry and landfill site. Actions Taken: 22. The Enforcement Notice required the removal of the waste that was imported and deposited at the site without planning permission. It was not complied with and therefore officers pursued prosecution proceedings. On legal advice, at the court hearing, a Section 106 agreement was signed under which the landowner committed to removing the waste, thus avoiding the hearing. Future Actions: 23. Officers will inspect the site to ensure compliance with the Section 106 agreement. If it has not been complied with, officers will consider the expediency of further legal action. Warren Farm, Chalfont St Peter (I) Issue: 24. Non-compliance with a Section 106 agreement to restore the site, including the over- tipping of waste. Actions Taken: 25. Planning permission for the working and filling of the site lapsed, and so the operators entered into a Section 106 agreement to allow them to finish the works and restore the site. A number of requirements of this agreement were breached and in particular the finished levels of the site were much higher than were permitted, which has been demonstrated by a site survey. Officers have commenced prosecution proceedings. Future Actions: 26. Officers will continue to work with Legal Services colleagues to progress this matter to court. Communications with the operator are still open, allowing them to approach officers to resolve this matter outside of court, but they have not so far. Mop End Farm, Mop End (II) Issue: 27. The importation, processing, burning and disposal of waste on agricultural land. Actions Taken: 28. Protracted negotiations with the landowner have resulted in a reduction in the intensity of the unauthorised use of the site, although it persists on a smaller scale. Investigations have been combined with the District Council’s Environmental Health team and the Environment Agency.