Shocking scale of landowner's illegal dump - which has cost taxpayers £43k
- 18 days ago
Drone pictures show the shocking scale of a landowner's dump - which has left taxpayers with a bill of more than £40k following a 10-year battle.
Maidstone council has spent significant sums and almost a decade pursuing Langley Beck over his 14-hectare plot.
The authority started enforcement action in 2014 after it found the land - located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - littered with broken vehicles and waste.
Beck was previously described as having a "hoarding disorder" in a parallel contempt of court case, for which he was given a suspended prison sentence.
He was due to be sentenced over his plot in Boxley Woods, to the north of Maidstone in Kent, on Friday (June 5), after being convicted of breaching planning regulations.
Maidstone council has spent significant sums and almost a decade pursuing Langley Beck over his 14-hectare plot.
The authority started enforcement action in 2014 after it found the land - located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - littered with broken vehicles and waste.
Beck was previously described as having a "hoarding disorder" in a parallel contempt of court case, for which he was given a suspended prison sentence.
He was due to be sentenced over his plot in Boxley Woods, to the north of Maidstone in Kent, on Friday (June 5), after being convicted of breaching planning regulations.