Removing waste

I would like to correct some facts for the record. Over a number of years commencing around 1994, Wyatt Brothers tipped a very substantial amount of waste on land next to their 18-hole golf course in the Green Belt countryside in the parish of Waterstock.

They did this without planning permission and having received substantial payment for this. The county council’s enforcement action against the unauthorised tipping has been supported on appeal both by the Planning Inspectorate and the Court of Appeal. Despite negotiation and two court orders made by judges of the High Court which require a large proportion of that waste to be removed, the Wyatts have removed only a small proportion of it, instead preferring to move the material around the site leaving the lion’s share in a remodelled landscape.

Mr Scharf refers to the Wyatts’ claim that the plan which should be used as the basis for the removal of the waste is inaccurate and can’t be used to guide the removal of waste. As he is aware, that claim has been examined and rejected by the High Court.

The plan was in fact agreed by Wyatt Brothers to be a plan with which they could comply in court proceedings in 2006.

The vast majority of Oxfordshire’s public, abide by planning laws. Wyatt Brothers has not. For three days (September 7-9, 2011) the High Court heard evidence from the Wyatt Brothers and from Oxfordshire County Council. In her concluding judgement, Mrs Justice Thirwell found Wyatt Brothers to be in continued contempt of court for failure to comply with a court order made in 2006, but suspended the sentence provided that the Wyatts appoint a contractor within 28 days and to commence works to remove the waste from the site within 35 days.

It is noteworthy that the writer of the letter, Daniel Scharf, for some years past acted as the Wyatt Brothers’ planning consultant, including the promotion of their unsuccessful appeals.

Rob Dance, Planning implementation manager, Oxfordshire County Council