Couple fined for using house as car lot
A husband and wife have each been ordered to pay £680 for keeping more than a dozen cars at their semi-detached house in Dawley.
David and Lynette Lunn appeared before Telford Magistrates on Tuesday 13 February accused of breaking planning laws by using their house in Old Vicarage Road to store vehicles, some of which had been there for so long that weeds had grown over them.
Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning officers served the couple with an enforcement notice in November 2016, ordering them to stop using the land for storing vehicles and to remove any vehicles use of which would not reasonably be expected for such a house. The notice also prohibited the repairing of vehicles other than routine maintenance of the household’s vehicles.
Mr and Mrs Lunn appealed to the Planning Inspectorate but their case was dismissed by the Secretary of State. A follow-up visit was carried out by a Council Enforcement Officer to find there were 13 vehicles there, an increase from the 11 found by the planning inspector earlier.
Magistrates ordered Mr and Mrs Lunn to each pay a fine of £250, £400 costs and a £30 victim surcharge. They must also comply with the enforcement notice by removing some vehicles.
Cllr Richard Overton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet Member for enforcement said: “This was a flagrant flouting of planning laws and the couple showed no attempt to resolve the issue and comply with the enforcement notice by removing the vehicles.
“Their neighbours have had to wait patiently for a long time for the investigation to be carried out, for the appeal to be heard and then for this prosecution to take place.
“I thank the Council’s enforcement officers for their persistence in achieving this result.”
