Planning enforcement success for Chorley Council

The council was first alerted to the site in Charnock Richard, owned by George Howarth, 50, of Park Hall Road Hall, Charnock Richard, in August 2018 because many shipping containers had been placed on the land.

Officers issued an Enforcement Notice for unauthorised development consisting of an extended hardstanding area onto Green Belt land and the siting of container units and a site cabin/office.

Mr Howarth was required to remove all unauthorised hardstanding, storage containers and the site cabin/office from the land and restore the land to its previous condition.

Despite multiple attempts by the council to work with Mr Howarth, no attempt had been made to comply with the enforcement notice.

Mr Howarth pleaded guilty at Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on 31 January 2022. By early May 2022, 13 containers had been removed with eight remaining. The cabin office had been removed but the extended area of hardstanding remained.