Yorkshire landowner ordered to clear scrap metal from site after starting business without planning permission

Officers received a complaint from a resident which said that someone had started a scrap metal business against planning regulations at the former Cooplands factory site on Wharf Road, Wheatley, back in August 2020.

The council said they had attempted to remediate the identified breaches of planning control by ‘attempting to work proactively with the landowner’ to cease the use or to submit a planning application, to seek permission to change the use of the site to a scrap yard.

But the application was rejected by planning officers and an enforcement notice was served on March 16, 2021 and came into effect on April 27.

The notice requires the owners to cease the use of the unauthorised scrap yard by May 25 and remove from the land any scrap metal and other miscellaneous items by July 20.

Enforcement officers were also alerted to a resident operating a ‘sweet shop business’ from a garage on Hawthorne Crescent in Mexborough.

A complaint was received regarding the alleged unauthorised running of a business from a residential garage back in 2019 . A site visit was carried out and identified a domestic outbuilding had been changed into a sweet shop.

The owner was advised to submit a planning application, which they subsequently did, but the application was refused by the planning department the following year.

The applicant appealed this decision with the Planning Inspectorate and in September 2020, the inspectorate upheld the council’s decision.

Officer’s said the ‘relevant enforcement action’ will be progressed to ‘bring about control of the site’.

The DMBC planning enforcement team had a total of 281 live investigations as of the end of March 2021 – a 153 of them came in just three months from January.

A spokesman from the planning enforcement team, said: “During this period the country was being subjected to another lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the planning enforcement team continued to operate by working from home and undertaking site visits by adopting a safe system of working.

“Unfortunately, internal site inspections were not allowed based on potential exposure to Covid-19 symptoms and the Government lockdown rules. Due to Covid-19, our legal department has limited court allocated time, hence at present all outstanding planning enforcement cases are on hold or awaiting an available hearing.”