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Successful committal for contempt for breach of a negative s187B injunction prohibiting the stationing of further caravans on land. In the summer of 2016 a gypsy site for six households was established in the Green Belt in breach of planning control. The local planning authority obtained a negative s187B injunction preventing the arrival of further caravans. An enforcement notice was served; the gypsies appealed against this and an inquiry was fixed for September 2017. In April 2017 the Council started committal proceedings in relation to caravans which had been brought to the site after the service of the injunction. At the hearing the defendants said that they wanted to keep their current caravans on the site until the outcome of the appeal was known. Kerr J found that breaches had been proved and adjourned sentencing for 4 weeks to give an opportunity for compliance. There was no compliance. One defendant was sentenced to 35 days imprisonment. The others were fined. Richard Langham appeared for the local planning authority at the injunction and the committal hearings.
