Manchester Developments Ltd has pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrate’s Court for failing to comply with a notice served by Trafford Council which compelled the company to clean up its Robin Hood Hotel site in Stretford.
Officers from the Council served the notice under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as the unkempt land and building was causing damage to the look and feel of the local area.
Under this notice, Manchester Developments Ltd were asked to do several pieces of maintenance work on the hotel, including clearing the land of building materials, rubble and scrub vegetation, repairing the windows and repairing broken or damaged slates on the roof.
The company failed to complete the works set out in the notice by the specified time period, and as such were taken to court were they pleaded guilty to failure to comply with the notice. Manchester Developments Ltd were ordered to pay a fine of £1,635 within 28 days, including covering the legal costs incurred by the Council.
Advocating on his own behalf, the company director said that ‘professional squatters’ had been using the building since it was purchased six years ago. When asked why the company had ignored correspondence from the council regarding this, the director said they were short-staffed, and that he did not know that correspondence was being ignored.
Magistrates ruled that though the company had clearly encountered problems, they had failed to comply with the Council’s notice.
Councillor Liz Patel, Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration at Trafford Council, said:
“Companies that own land such as in this case have a responsibility to properly maintain their properties and not allow them to fall into states of dereliction. Leaving land in a neglected state can encourage fly-tipping and other anti-social behaviour.
"I’d like to thank the officers from Trafford Council who pursued this case for the recent improvements that we have seen but there is still more work for the owners to do.
"I hope this case is an example to other businesses who are served with a Section 215 notice not to ignore correspondence from the council. If you are having issues or struggling to comply with a notice for any reason, please do get in touch straight away – we want to help and work with you to overcome any barriers you might be facing.”