Defendant to pay £225k under POCA after selling vehicles on Green Belt land

A man who ignored a planning enforcement notice and continued to sell vehicles on Green Belt land has been ordered to pay back nearly £225,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Kirklees Council prosecuted Norman Hargreaves of Lees House Farm, 996 Leeds Road, Shaw Cross, Dewsbury under s. 179 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court in February 2012. The case was then transferred to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing and confiscation.

Hargreaves was ordered last month (30 June) to pay the agreed sum of £223,390 under POCA within six months with a default sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment if he fails to do so.

The defendant was also fined £650 fine for each offence – totalling £4,550 – and ordered to pay £10,000 towards the prosecutions costs within six months.

A default for non-payment of the fine and costs was set at 45 days imprisonment and Hargreaves was ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge. 

Cllr Steve Hall, Cabinet member for Planning and Highways at Kirklees, said: “This man was in clear breach of the enforcement notice and did so to run his business for profit without incurring the usual costs of running a business. He had obtained a substantial turnover as a result.

“This was a substantial confiscation order for ignoring an enforcement notice and shows that breaching planning law can be a very expensive business.”