Enforcement action has been threatened against a Clayton-le-Moors skip hire firm accused of sprawling onto Green Belt land.
A1 Skips bosses have been issued a planning contravention notice by Hyndburn Council and have 21 days to respond, elapsing on August 17.
The notice states that there "may have been a breach of planning control", through the siting of skips on land off Holme Road.
It was issued following the Planning Inspectorate’s appeal ruling on restrictions imposed by Lancashire County Council (LCC) in August 2009 on the firm’s waste transfer operations.
In the July 23 decision, the inspector upheld part of the appeal by A1’s directors, but refused to relax working hours restrictions.
Darrel and Andrea Wilson were also given four months to implement a scheme removing materials from Green Belt land, in the interests of visual amenity. Other conditions relating to access, potholes and dust emissions also remain, although noise restrictions duplicated by the Environment Agency have been dropped.
Mr Wilson owns Holme Road from its length between Whalley Road and a point just west of several industrial units. He has been invited to detail the various businesses operating from the units as well as a parcel of land off Holme Road designated by the council as a ‘red zone’. Failure to respond to the contravention notice could lead to a £5,000 fine.
A council spokesman said: "We’ve had some complaints regarding the use of the land and allegations that they have not got full planning permission, so the first step is to issue a planning contraventions notice."
Councillor Miles Parkinson said: "It’s addressing the concerns of the residents of the area. I wanted action to be taken earlier, but we were waiting until the inspector reported.
"As soon as the inspector reported, I informed the planning department that I believed there are other operations down there which might not have permission. It’s simply tying up the loose ends."
No-one from A1 Skips was available for comment.
An expansion of its waste transfer operation was conditionally approved 12 months ago. It received 108 letters of representation, including petitions containing 233 signatures of protest.
