After a 10-year battle, Michael Merrill was told he must tear down the homes he built for his immediate family and in-laws, along with other unauthorised buildings he constructed, within a year, when he appeared in court on Friday, January 26.
The 51-year-old, who referred to himself as Adam at the High Court in Manchester, built at a site known as Six Acres, on Wirswall Road, Wirswall, near Whitchurch but just over the border into Cheshire.
Cheshire East Council said it served Mr Merrill with an enforcement notice in 2014 for the buildings that were “all in open countryside and without planning permission”, and that since then he had “ignored all other legal steps by the council to have the properties removed”.
A council statement continued: “He claimed he had the right to ‘live on the land’ and that the Town and Country Planning Act did not apply to him and his wife. This was rejected by the judge.”
The appeal was dismissed in 2017, and in October 2022 the council was granted an injunction, giving Merrill until May 3 the following year to remove three buildings, a viewing platform and areas of hardstanding, and another three months to restore the land to its original condition.
However, that didn’t happen, so last month a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, was imposed for contempt of court.
Merrill must now cease residential use of the land by mid-July, and has until the end of January 2025 to remove the residential property from the site. Both parties will agree a schedule for the demolition of the other unauthorised buildings.
As well as a suspended prison sentence, the judge in Manchester also awarded costs to the council of £17,409. This is on top of the £21,000-worth of costs awarded to the authority at previous hearings.
Councillor Mick Warren, Cheshire East Council’s chair of the environment and communities committee, said: “We do not seek to see people sent to prison for planning offences. Action to secure an injunction and an application for contempt of court are a last resort.
“However, where parties show no regard for the planning process in the event of unacceptable and inappropriate development, the council is left with no option but to pursue legal action and, in this instance, the property owners were given considerable time in which to comply with planning regulations.
“It is regrettable that the council had to take this action. Hopefully, the prospect of a 12-month prison sentence will result in compliance. The council has incurred substantial costs as well as officer time in this matter and this could have been invested in other areas within council services. It was important to ensure that planning law was complied with.”
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