Road repairs company fined £4.5k over illegal field storage

Monday 15 August 2022

A tarmac company has been fined £4,500 for continuing to store company vehicles and equipment on protected agricultural land, even after an enforcement notice was served in response to public complaints.

Protek Limited was handed the penalty by the Magistrate’s Court last week after its Director, Jose Manuel Pinto Salgado, pleaded guilty to operating in breach of the Planning and Building Law.

Laying out the facts of the case, Advocate Simon Crowder explained that Proktek’s breaches occurred at protected land at Uplands Farm, La Route de Beaumont, St. Peter where the company is based.

Numerous complaints were received that the land was being used commercially rather than agriculturally. 

The first site visit took place in January 2019 and was followed up with a written warning concerning the parking of vehicles at the site. 

Advocate Crowder said that a large number of visits were made to encourage progress in clearing the site, but "no progress was made".

As a result of this, an enforcement notice was served to Mr Salgado personally, Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs Limited of which Mr Salgado was Director, and as Protek Ltd in July 2020.

The land was only allowed to be used for agricultural reasons, but Mr Salgado and his companies were also using the fields at Uplands Farm commercially.

This included using the area as an operations base, vehicle depot and yard, including the parking and storage of vehicles, trailers, plant and machinery, containers and goods associated with a commercial tarmacadam and resurfacing business. 

The company also surfaced the ground with hard material to park and store commercial and non-commercial vehicles, boats, containers, plant and machinery.

In addition, the protected agricultural building on the site was instead used as a vehicle workshop.

The usage was described as being “at significant odds with the authorised agricultural use of the land.”

Defending Protek, Advocate Ian Jones said the business had made “minimal financial benefit” from the breach of the Planning and Building Law.

He said: “Mr Salgado complied with large parts of the enforcement notice, and made his best efforts to clear the land, but he was hampered by the pandemic.

“This is a business that involves heavy vehicles and large vehicles so it’s not easy to find somewhere to move them to.”

He added: “It would have been easy for Mr Salgado to comply by shutting his business and sacking everyone, but he took into account the welfare of his employees.”

On the day of the sentencing, Mr Salgado was initially due to face trial, appearing in count under three different capacities - as himself, as the director of Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs Limited, and as the director of Protek Limited - but decided to change his plea to 'guilty' on behalf of Protek.

However, he maintained his 'not guilty' pleas in respect of himself and Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs, and the charge was subsequently dismissed as the prosecution offered no evidence.

Handing down the sentence, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said that Protek should receives some credit for the guilty plea, although it was “last minute”.

He explained that it was “difficult, if not impossible” to know exactly what level of responsibility Protek had for the planning breach compared to Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs and Mr Salgado himself.

Assistant Magistrate Harris said: “I have no evidence of any specific financial benefit that accrued to Protek as a result of the planning breach, and I don’t want to speculate what it might have been based on figures that include your other company.”

Assistant Magistrate Harris added that he had taken into account the fact that Protek had no previous convictions when deciding on the severity of the sanction.

Handing down a £4,500 fine, Assistant Magistrate Harris said: “Whilst some efforts have been made to clear the land, they are not yet complete. 

“I understand the impact of covid, and I don’t criticise you for wanting to keep your business running but lots of other businesses did that without breaching planning laws. 

“I also understand that it’s difficult to transplant businesses like this to different premises, but if you hadn’t put so much there then it wouldn’t be so hard to move.”

The fine will be paid in instalments of £750 a month for a total of six months.