Back garden business blight must stop or pay a fine! - says Council

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Southfields builder has been using residential garden as commercial storage facility

A property developer who's been using a back garden in a quiet residential street in Southfields as a commercial storage facility has been told to stop or face a hefty fine.

Richard Beavercroft rented out the land at the rear of a property in Sutherland Grove to a local garden centre, which stored large quantities of earth, manure, gravel, sand, paving stones and other items there.

As well as being incredibly unsightly, neighbours living in Combemartin Road, which backs onto the garden, were forced to put up with disturbance and disruption from vans and lorries picking up or dropping off items for the garden centre.

On some days as many as a dozen vans or lorries would visit the storage site, which lies within a conservation area. Drivers would often block the highway while they loaded up and on some occasions even parked right across the pavement while they accessed the land.

The council learned that this was happening at the end of 2006 and issued an enforcement notice ordering Mr Beavercroft to cease because it breached planning laws.

However, he appealed against the notice to a Government planning inspector, arguing that use of the garden for industrial storage was not in breach of planning rules. By appealing in this way, he was able to continue storing materials at the site until the inspector reached a verdict.

But in a written ruling published this week the inspector has backed the council's decision. This means that Mr Beavercroft now has one month to clear the site of all commercial material and stop using the land for storage or else face prosecution.

If he fails to comply he could be fined up to £20,000 in a magistrates court or face unlimited fines if the case is heard at the crown court.

In his ruling, the inspector Graham Dudley stated: "The change in visual appearance and character from a residential garden to an area used for storing commercial vehicles is substantial, and the visual impact on these and the character and appearance of the conservation area is significant and unacceptable.

"The comings and goings of commercial vehicles, even for a few times a day, particularly while parked in the road to unload materials, would also considerably harm the ambience and character of the conservation area. I conclude that commercial storage is a harmful and incongruous use.

"Photographs show that the scale of the deliveries is significant, with one of the commercial vehicles having to completely block the carriageway to deliver materials to the site through a removed panel in the fence.

"In my view the accessibility of the site for this type of storage is completely inadequate … and has an unacceptable impact on highway safety."

Planning chairman Cllr Leslie McDonnell said: "The council acted quickly and decisively to protect local people from this potentially dangerous and harmful blight.

"This was a completely unacceptable use for a back garden in a residential street. It was an absolute eyesore for neighbours who also had to put up with the noise and disturbance from lorries coming and going at all times of the day.

"Now the inspector has published his decision, we expect Mr Beavercroft to arrange for the removal of all these materials and cease using this garden for storage. If he does not comply with the notice, then he is likely to end up in court."

Mr Beavercroft had previously applied to redevelop the site for housing in 2004 but withdrew the application before it could be determined amid considerable local opposition.

April 9, 2008