NOW WE WILL HAVE TO BOARD UP SHOP

A CULLOMPTON couple say that "common sense" has prevailed in court, following a battle with the district council over the uPVC frontage of their funeral business.

John Crossley, of Crossley Funeral Services, was conditionally discharged and escaped a fine, which could have been up to a maximum of £20,000, at Exeter Magistrates' Court last week for not responding to the authority's enforcement notice demanding the removal the uPVC shopfront. The notice was issued in October 2008 because the revamp of the 50 Fore Street premises did not conform with Mid Devon District Council conservation area policies.

But Anita North, Mr Crossley's partner who sold him the ground floor unit in 2005, expects further enforcement action from Mid Devon District Council which would lead to the closure of the firm. She said: "I think the magistrates exercised a bit of common sense but John pleaded guilty for not responding to the notice, which he had to do.

"The council pressed the magistrates to impose the maximum £20,000 fine for what they called a 'flagrant breach of planning rules', but we didn't even know we had broken the rules until it was brought to our attention. This nonsense has cost us in excess of £1,000 and we certainly cannot afford to replace the shop front to comply with this ridiculous conservation area criteria," she added.

The uPVC windows replaced aluminum frames in 2006.

Since then, Ms North claims the council has given the couple only two options; to submit a second planning application for new windows with a material that conformed with conservation area policies or to apply for permission retrospectively for the current shop front. But she added: "It has been made very clear that a retrospective planning application will be rejected anyway."

Ms North said the £3,500 spent on the windows and the additional cost to remove them could not be supported by the firm.

Ms North, who runs town centre pubs, added: "We generate a lot of revenue for Mid Devon District. But, basically, all we are going to do now is take the windows out of Crossley's and board it up."

John Clarke, enforcement officer for Mid Devon District Council, said the shopfront was installed without permission and was "contrary" to the Devon Structure Plan and the Mid Devon Plan and Core Strategy. He said Mr Crossley should discuss a suitable replacement with the authority. He said the council did not press for the maximum fine, but reminded magistrates of the penalties they could impose.