Sparsholt alpaca breeder fined for breaking planning rules (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Sparsholt alpaca breeder fined for breaking planning rules

6:40am Saturday 1st September 2012 in Winchester By Andrew Napier

MAGISTRATES in Winchester have fined a Sparsholt resident for flouting a planning enforcement notice.

Michael Lee was fined £1,300 and ordered to pay costs of £458.

Winchester City Council issued the notice when Lee sited a mobile home on land that he owned in Ham Green, Sparsholt, without planning permission.

He argued that he needed to live there to run his alpaca rearing business, but a Government inspector ruled that there was no justification for him to reside there.

The mobile home was required to be removed by February 29 this year, but subsequent inspections by the council enforcement team showed that the mobile home remained and was occupied.

In court, Lee pleaded guilty to breaking the enforcement notice.

Cllr Victoria Weston, portfolio holder for planning and transport, said: “The decision by Mr Lee to move a residential mobile home onto the land without planning permission has proved costly.

"The planning regulations are there to protect the countryside from development which doesn’t need to be located there and the council will take robust action against those individuals who occupy land without permission,” she added.

Lee had already previously been found guilty of failing to comply with a stop notice, which was served on the mobile home when it was first brought onto the land.

Further legal action could be instigated against him should he fail to comply with the requirements of the notice. The council could instruct contractors to remove the home and charge the costs to Lee.