Berry farm appeal rejected

The High Court has thrown out a Leominster strawberry farm's appeal over buildings deemed by the council to have been put up without consent.

S&A Property Limited had applied to the Court of Appeal in London to try to prevent enforcement action by Herefordshire Council.

The company and the council have been embroiled in a legal dispute over the buildings at Brierley Court, near Leominster, for several years.

Yesterday's hearing followed Herefordshire Council's victory at the High Court of Justice, in Birmingham, against a similar injunction in a case decided by His Honour Judge Brown QC earlier this month.

Lords Justice Carnwath, Toulson and Waller were yesterday asked to grant an injunction preventing action being taken by the council until the Court of Appeal had ruled whether His Honour Judge Brown was correct to refuse the earlier bid for an injunction.

Lord Justice Carnwath said: "The case is weak in the extreme."

Lord Justice Waller said: "The longer this matter went on, the more misconceived it seemed to be."

Costs of £8,850 were awarded to Herefordshire Council and must be paid within 14 days.

The company failed on February 7 to secure an injunction to stop enforcement action at Brierley Court Farm, which required S&A to remove sewage treatment works and amen-ity buildings erected without planning permission, by January 10 this year.

S&A sought an interim injunction to preserve the status quo at the site pending its application to the European Court of Human Rights, but that was refused.