A SHEEP DOG trainer from Bromsberrow Heath near Ledbury has received an 18 month conditional discharge for failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice.

It was a case taken to Hereford Magistrates’ Court by Herefordshire Council’s Planning Enforcement team.

On December 12 2019, Angela Blackmore (68), of Lintridge Farm pleaded guilty to breaching a Planning Enforcement Notice at Lower Foxhall Farm in Phocle Green (Ross-on-Wye) with “the unpermitted erection of fencing and polytunnel for sheep dog training, and for unauthorised change of land use from agricultural to mixed use agricultural and residential and creation of access track”.

Blackmore received a conditional discharge for 18 months and was ordered to pay costs of £300 and a £20 victim surcharge.

The court heard that in 2017 Blackmore applied for retrospective planning permission to keep sheep dogs on the site, and to retain a temporary fence and new access road, but this was rejected.

In February 2018, the council’s planning enforcement officers issued an enforcement notice giving Blackmore six months to return the site to its previous condition.

However this work was not completed and the notice was breached.

A council spokesman said: “Not all works or new uses of land need planning permission, but failure to obtain planning permission or comply with the details of a permission is known as a ‘planning breach’. Herefordshire Council will deal with any alleged breach of planning control reported to us by members of the public.

“For some forms of development or building work it is a criminal offence to start work without the necessary consents.

“Failure to comply with planning permission or building regulation requirements can result in large fines or imprisonment.”

A planning breach can be reported to the council’s planning enforcement team by calling 01432 260 386 or emailing: PlanningEnforcement@herefordshire.gov.uk