B1.17.1 continued…
Hillingdon Council has successfully secured the prosecution of a resident who converted his house into flats without planning permission.
The resident was ordered to pay the council’s full costs of £2,249, as well as a fine of £12,000 and has to restore the property on Little Road, Hayes back to a single dwelling house. The investigation into the unlawful development started in 2006 following complaints from local residents.
Employment of rogue tree surgeon leads to prosecution of Aldwick man
An Aldwick resident was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £200 costs at Chichester Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to ordering the topping and lopping of a beech tree in his garden.
The man who carried out this work was not prosecuted as he was untraceable, despite attempts to track him down.
Unauthorised works to a protected tree carries a fine of up to £20,000. However this sum can increase dramatically if it can be demonstrated that the damage or loss of a tree would be profitable for the individuals involved.
Successful TPO Prosecutions in Lichfield
A resident who damaged a protected Oak tree in his garden without Lichfield District Council’s consent, has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of over £2,500 by Tamworth Magistrates.
A tree contractor was prosecuted for drastically pruning an Oak tree without getting authorisation from the Council. He was prosecuted under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act. He was fined £500 plus £1,323.80 costs and a further £15 victim surcharge for the unauthorised works.
Successful prosecution against destruction of protected trees in Poole
Three convictions have been secured against a local company for causing or permitting damage to three protected trees.
Three Scots Pines were damaged when their roots were severed during works being carried out by a civil engineering company based in Wimborne. The company had failed to prepare an Arboricultural Method Statement or consider adequate root protection prior to the works taking place.
The company was fined £500 for each offence and ordered to pay all of the prosecution’s costs, including a victim surcharge, totalling £4,604.
Russ Fisher, Senior Arboricultural Officer, Borough of Poole said: “The penalty given demonstrates that the courts take a dim view of wilful damage and destruction of protected trees and this reinforces the council’s policy of prosecuting those that disregard the Tree Preservation Order (TPO) legislation.”
Source: Poole Council
Prosecution for the Unauthorised Removal of Hedgerows
Epping Forest District Council has successfully defended an important appeal by a local resident about the unauthorised removal of hedgerows.
The case started when Council officers discovered that several hundred metres of hedgerow had been removed by contractors in two fields owned; the owner was fully aware of the work being carried out but allowed this to continue until a Council officer visited the site and requested that the work stop.
Permission to remove the hedgerows, which were considered to be important, had not been obtained so the Council prosecuted. The case went to court in August 2009 where the landowner denied the charges but was found guilty by Harlow Magistrates. He was fined a total of £6000 and ordered to pay a further £5000 towards the Council`s costs.
He appealed against his conviction and sentence. After a further hearing (two years after the initial offence) the appeal was dismissed. His fines were reduced from £6000 to £5000 but he was ordered to pay £12000 towards the Council`s additional costs incurred in defending the appeal.
Source: Epping Forest Distric Council
More recent prosecutions can be found on the News section of the website.