Golf course owners in the rough over waste
THE owners of a golf course near Wheatley have received suspended jail sentences for failing to remove waste from Green Belt land following a legal action brought by Oxfordshire County Council.
Brothers, Ronald Charles Wyatt, 67, and Michael Wyatt, 72, were found guilty of contempt of court after failing to clean up more than 100,000 cubic metres of builders’ waste and overburden from Waterstock Golf Course, near the river Thame.
The pair received jail sentences of six and four months respectively, both suspended for a 12-month period. The judge ordered that within this period, the brothers make realistic efforts to meet the terms of a July 2006 court order, which they had failed to comply with.
The brothers were also ordered to pay the county council’s legal costs at the High Court hearing.
DECISIVE ACTION
Oxfordshire County Council’s Head of Sustainable Development, Chris Cousins, said: “This is the latest and hopefully the last in a long line of successful actions taken by the council to require the owners of this site to remove the unlawfully deposited waste.
“Waste was tipped onto this green belt land without planning permission. It?s important that people know that Oxfordshire County Council does not tolerate such disregard for the environment and will use its powers to enforce planning rules.”
Mr Cousins added: “Failure to comply with a High Court Order is a very serious offence and if the Wyatts do not make substantial progress toward compliance in the next few months they will find themselves in prison.”
CASE HISTORY
According to a statement by OCC, waste was originally tipped at the golf course, near Thame Road, without planning consent in 1994 and also occurred more recently during 1996-8.
The county council took enforcement action in 1997 to have the unauthorized waste removed and this action was backed by the Secretary of State when the Wyatts appealed.
Following this, council officers tried to negotiate a compromise scheme with the brothers, which would have allowed a small amount of waste to remain on site as part of an additional nine-hole golf course. However, an acceptable scheme was not forthcoming.
The Wyatts failed to comply with the enforcement notice and in July 2006 the High Court ordered that the waste be removed from the site by March 2007, and the site restored to its former appearance by April 2007. This did not happen and there remained around 100,000 cubic metres of waste on the land.
Instead of removing the waste, the Wyatts moved it around and grassed it over. The council’s Planning and Regulation Committee agreed in the spring of 2008 that the brothers’ failure to comply should be taken back to the High Court, resulting in the committal hearing on Wednesday, May 5, 2010.
IMAGE: Courtesy of www.waterstockgolf.co.uk
Submitted: 18/05/10
