Today the planning department of Argyll and Bute Council can stand justly proud of taking the correct action in defence of the authority of planning law.
Margery Osborne and Thomas Paterson, the owners of land at Cumberland Avenue in Helensburgh had persistently failed to comply with an official Tree Replacement Notice.
Today council contractors moved on to the land at around 8.30am this morning, escorted by police, to implement the notice directly. They have concentrated initially on clearing logs and debris from the areas that are to be replanted.
The 28 trees due to be planted this week will provide some compensation for the loss of the protected woodland at Cumberland Avenue which were illegally felled in May and June 2011, amid much local controversy.
The council has also served two further enforcement notices on Mrs Osborne and Mr Paterson requiring the removal of:
- a substantial quantity of building materials, which have been stored on the land for some time without any authorisation;
- a two metre high fence on to Cumberland Avenue, which was erected in summer 2013 again without any authorisation.
The owners have responded by making a retrospective planning application for the fence, arguing that it has been erected for health and safety reasons because the land inside the fence is very uneven with large tree stumps and stored logs.
This is an ironic defence given that the trees were wrongly felled, creating the tree stumps and stored logs in question.
Council officers were there in person this morning, above, supervising the intervention.
Helensburgh Community Woodlands Group [HCWG], which has been doughty in resisting the serial flouting of planning law by these developers in respect of trees and protected space, have unsurprisingly welcomed the decisive action which the council has taken today. They note that the obvious response to the developers’ argument against the requirement to remove the fence is to clean up the site, remove all dangerous materials and restore the amenity residents previously enjoyed.
David Adams, HCWG Convenor, says: ‘It is clear that Argyll and Bute Council has now lost patience with the antics of these two landowners.
‘We have long called on the Council to take robust action against their defiance of planning controls and it is heartening to see this happen.
‘We trust that they will be made to reimburse the Council for the full cost of the work undertaken this week, including all administrative expenses, as specified in the relevant legislation.’
This last issue is another serious point.
While the council have today enforced the action they have long required the landowners to take, they have paid to do that work themselves – which means that the taxpayer has paid.
The recalcitrant landowners must of course be levied with the cost of this morning’s action. If they are not, it will signal to other developers of similar bent that all they have to do is reject all planning orders and sit back and wait for the council to pay to effect the remedies for the predations.
